Kenichi: Not Just Her Disciple
by Autobot Rewind
Summary: Where does Kenichi go when Miu won't return his affection? How far will Shigure go to bring him back when she barely realizes her own love? How will he react when the last person he would suspect to be in love with him, finds him? What do his mother and a book have to do with this? Will Shigure get to teach him something? Will he finally get over his rule of not attacking girls?
1. Chapter 1: Where Do I Stand

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

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Where does Kenichi go when Miu won't return his affection? How far will Shigure go to bring him back when she barely realizes her own love? How will he react when the last person he would suspect to be in love with him, finds him? What do his mother and a book have to do with this? Will Shigure get to teach him something? Will he finally get over his rule of not attacking girls?

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 **AN:** Hello readers. This is my second fanfiction. My first story was Familiar Of Zero: Saving grace. I really like the Shigure/Kenichi pair up. So I decided to write a short story where they get together. This story is based off of what I saw in the anime, and it takes place in the middle of episode 19.

Here is a brief list of events that have happed just before my story takes place:

He had his experience at Furinji Island where he learned to overcome fear and Shigure taught him how to swim.

The masters asked him if he wanted to start advanced technique training and he asked to wait a little longer.

He had just learned about Kisara and Ragnarok

He met Kisara and Miu told him that he couldn't beat her at his current skill level.

I will try to update this story at least once a month until it is finished. My main focus right now is on my first story.

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Chapter 1

Where Do I Stand?

After school Wednesday, the masters are having Kenichi just do typical strength training and exercises until they can find out his answer about advanced training.

Kenichi is currently wearing the standard white Karate outfit that he usually wears doing. He is doing pushups with Shigure sitting on his back.

'Ever since Shigure started sitting on my back during pushups, she has never stopped doing it.' Kenichi thinks as he does another pushup.

'This has become quite relaxing. My mind feels at ease while I am sitting on his back.' Shigure thinks while she sits on Kenichi's back.

Sakaki come out from the dojo drinking a beer. His brown open shirt flaps in the wind, showing off his extremely ripped abs.

"Hey shigure! It looks like Kenichi is getting used to you sitting on his back. Maybe you should add more weight." Sakaki says very casually.

Just as he is about to take a swig out of his bottle, it gets cut in half by a shuriken.

"Awe come on! I just opened that!" Sakaki says as he looks over to Shigure.

She has her arms crossed and looking away from him.

"What did I say?" Sakaki asks.

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Apachai slams the punching mitts together.

"It's Apachai's turn!"

Apachai stands there in his usual yellow tank top and red shorts.

'Why is it that I get worried every single time I do training with Apachai?' Kenichi asks himself.

Shigure sits down on the deck. She looks as if she was proud of something.

Kenichi and Apapchai start sparring. The pace is much slower than Apachai's normal speed, but that is because he is trying not to kill Kenichi again.

In sporadic increments, he makes Kenichi dodge one of the mitts.

Kenichi makes jab after jab at the mitts in various combinations.

Apachai takes a swing with one of the mitts.

All of the masters hold their breath.

Kenichi barely dodges the blow as he feels the breeze from Apachai's strike.

'Oh crap. I need to move faster or he will knock my head off.' Kenichi thinks.

Apachai gets a smile on his face.

Kenichi starts jabbing and punching the mitts again.

Akisame sits down next to Shigure, who seems to be intently watching Kenichi. His navy Hakama contrasts nicely with his white keikogi.

"So what seems to have you so worked up, Shigure?" Akisame asks.

Apachai starts having Kenichi pick up the pace.

"Trying . . . to keep . . . Kenichi . . . alive." She responds back to Akisame.

He starts rubbing his chin.

"Oh? And how is that?" He asks her.

She points to a spot behind Kenichi.

Akisame's eyes follow along to where Shigure is pointing to see a net made of strong nylon attached to two trees.

All of a sudden, everyone feels a change in the atmosphere and looks in Apachai's direction.

"That was good Kenichi. Now dodge this."

Apachai's eyes get that white glow to them as he winds in for a full swing.

The mitt makes contact with Kenichi and sends him flying backwards.

Kenichi didn't even have a chance to even get out a yelp.

As Kenichi's body approaches the net at the speed of a rocket, Shigure clenches her fist and gets a hopeful look on her face.

Kenichi flies through the net as if it wasn't even there.

Shigure could swear that she saw the outline of Kenichi's body just before the netting went limp.

He smashes into the wall that surrounds Ryozanpaku.

'Damn.' Shigure thinks in defeat as she runs over to Kenichi with Akisame.

They pull him out of the wall and bring him back into the open.

"Kenichiiiiiiiiiiii!" Miu yells out and starts running towards their location.

"Kensei! We need you!" Sakaki yells out.

Apachai squats in front of Kenichi while holding his head.

"Oh no! I think I did it again. I'm so sorry, Kenichi! Please wake up!" Apachai tries to apologize to an unconscious Kenichi.

Kensei comes running out with a small jar in his hands. The long flaps of his green Chinese uniform flaps about as he runs

"What is that Kensei?" Sakaki cautiously asks.

"You don't want to know?" Kensei responds.

"Is it going to kill him?" Sakaki also asks.

"It can't be any worse than what Apachai did to him." Kensei retorts.

"Oh nooooo. I'm so sorry kenichi." Apachai says as he turns around and sits like he was a child that just got scolded by his father.

"I thought you didn't care about what happens to Kenichi? Akisame says teasingly to Sakaki.

Sakaki crosses his arms and turns his head in a pout.

"I don't. We just can't have anyone dying here." He says in response to Akisame.

"This is serious everyone. Kenichi might die again!" Miu yells out as she waves here arms frantically.

"I don't think he will. He actually seems to be very faintly breathing this time, but it still won't hurt to use this." Kensei says as he starts to turn the lid to the jar he was holding.

He partially lifts the lid up by Kenichi's nose and then quickly closes it again and backs away.

As quickly as Kensei backs away, Kenichi wakes up with his eyes bulging open.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Not again. I'm too young to . . ." Knichi yells out.

He stops as he clenches his nose.

"Om my god! What the heck is that smell!" Kenichi says in a muffled tone.

Kensei smiles as he walks away to put the jar back in it's very safe place.

Apachai hears Kenichi's voice and he jumps up instantly and runs over to Kenichi.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy! Kenichi is still alive! Oh thank goodness!" Apachai yells out as he picks Kenichi up and gives him a huge bear hug.

'I think he is about to crush my ribs.' Kenichi thinks.

"Put him down Apachai. You're going to crush the kid and we just got him back." Sakaki interrupts Apachai.

He lets go and drops Kenichi.

"Why . . . . . . . . me?" Kenichi struggles to say.

'Maybe the net did help.' Shigure thinks.

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Everyone sits down for dinner in their usual spots except for one.

Shigure takes a spot next to Kenichi. She is wearing her typical short, pink kimono and purple stockings.

"Hey Shigure! Are you feeling all right? This is the third night in a row you're eating with us instead of eating on the roof." Sakaki says boisterously from the buzz that he has from all the alcohol that he's drank.

"I'm . . . . . . . fine. I . . . want to . . . eat . . . here." Shigure says in response as she elegantly sips her tea.

'Why am I here? Ever since our trip to the Island I have found myself wanting to sit here for dinner.' Shigure wonders.

'That's right. She has sat here next to me for the past three days. It's odd to see her here at the table. She has always eaten her dinner on the roof with her mouse Tochumaru. I have to admit, it is really nice to see her with us. She seems like such a loner.' Kenichi thinks to himself.

Hayato starts to stroke his beard.

"Well now. It is good to see you eating with us, Shigure, no matter what the reason may be." Miu's grandfather says while smiling.

While they eat, Apachai tests Kenichi by stealing some of his food every so often.

"Apa." Apachai says each time.

'Will this ever stop?' Kenichi asks himself in a frustrated voice.

"So, Kenichi, are you ready for advanced training yet?" Akisame asks.

All of the other masters' eyes glow in thought of teaching him.

'Maybe I can teach Kenichi something again.' Shigure thinks to herself.

Kenichi stuffs his mouth full of food.

"Ummmm umum um umm umum um um." Kenichi says through a full mouth.

He claps his hands together in thanks and quickly gets up to take his dishes to the kitchen.

As he is about to enter into the kitchen, Akisame stops him.

"And what are you waiting to find out?" Akisame asks.

'How does he do that? Not only is he a mind reader, but he can understand gibberish.' Kenichi wonders.

"And if you're wondering how I can do that, I've learned how to understand gibberish from people trying to tell me their ailments when they visit the clinic." Akisame explains.

Kenichi's jaw drops.

'He did it again.' Kenichi thinks.

Kensei Ma appears right beside Kenichi.

"What are you waiting for?" Kensei asks.

Kenichi rushes into the kitchen.

Shigure looks kind of slighted after Kenichi exits.

'I was enjoying his company.' She thinks to herself.

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Kenichi climbs up to the roof to clear his mind.

'I wish I could just hop up here like the other masters do.'

Little did Kenichi know, Shigure was also on the roof on the opposite side of the peak.

She hears him come up to the roof, but does not let him know of her presence.

She slinks up her side of the roof and peeks over at Kenichi.

She sees him write in a book with a dragon on the cover for a few minutes. She couldn't tell what he was writing though.

After he finishes writing he lays back with the book sitting on his chest.

He lets out a big sigh and stairs up to the sky.

Shigure watches him intently.

'He reminds me of Akisame when he is thinking so intently.' She thinks to herself.

Thinking that no one is around, Kenichi just starts talking aloud.

"I have read through my books over and over again, but I am still so confused."

'What is he talking about?' Shigure thinks to herself.

"I need to know how Miu feels about me." Kenichi says.

'Oh.'

"I've read my book on how to tell if a girl likes you, but I can't tell how she feels about me. I get mixed reactions from her. One minute it seems like she likes me, but then it seem like she only likes me as a friend in the next. She keeps calling me friend. I am so confused."

'I have seen this too, from all of the times I have observed those two.'

Flashes from all of the ways she has observed them cross through her mind from watching them from the rafters, the rooftops, and the trees.

"I had thought about asking her, but that was never mentioned in the book. I guess it must not be that simple."

'That sounds pretty simple to me.' Shigure thinks.

"I also read my book on how to confess, but the book assumes that you already know if the girl likes you from reading the previous book."

'These books do sound interesting though. Maybe I will read them sometime.'

"All I've wanted to do is date her ever since I met her. She has also been one of the main reasons why I have been able to make it through my training. I don't know where I would be without her." He admits.

Shigure's mood drops a little bit.

'Why do I feel down that he is talking about her?' Shigure wonders.

Kenichi gets a smile on his face.

"Well, I guess I can't say she is the only one."

'Hmm?' Shigure's interest gets peaked again.

"Shigure has been there a lot for me too."

'Me?' Shigure thinks.

"She usually captures me before I can run away. But even outside of that, she usually says something to keep me going."

Shigure blushes very lightly.

"She doesn't talk much, but every word she says is meaningful. She is a beautiful woman too."

Shigure gets a completely shocked look on her face when he says that she is beautiful and then her cheeks really become blushed.

'He thinks of me as a woman? He thinks I'm beautiful?'

He flails his arms in the air for a moment.

"Ahhhhhhhh. Who am I kidding? She is my master. Why would she like me?" Kenichi dismisses.

'Me? Kenichi?' Shigure ponders on that for a moment.

"What am I going to do? They want to know if I want to start the advanced techniques, but what do I do if I find out that Miu doesn't feel the same way for me? Do I stay at Ryozanpaku, or do I leave?"

'He might leave? That simply wouldn't do, but is there anything I could really do to keep him from leaving?'

Various ways of trapping him and keeping him there start running through her head.

'I could dig a giant trench that he can't get out of once he falls inside.'

A vision of her proudly standing by the trap with her hands on her sides appears in her mind.

'Wait. Miu might not like that big of a trench being dug in the yard. I guess he does have school to attend too, but does he really have to go?'

She starts thinking again.

'Maybe I could just line the whole perimeter with traps so that he could never get out.'

Visions of the various traps she could set up start coming to mind.

'Wait. Miu might not like that either. It would make bringing home groceries a little bit more difficult.'

Other ways of keeping him there, including staying near him the whole time so that he can never leave also come across her mind.

Her thoughts pause for a moment.

'I suppose it would be best if I found a way to get him to willingly stay. Yes. Yes it would. This will be tough.' She thinks.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading my new fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.

V1.1


	2. Chapter 2: The Truth

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Here is the second chapter for this story. Thank you for patiently waiting. I would like to update this story more than once a month, but as I said before, my main focus is still on my Familiar Of Zero story.

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Chapter 2

The Truth

Kenichi met up with Miu before leaving the school.

"Hey, Miu. Do you mind walking home by yourself today? I have an errand to take care of before I come home."

"I guess I can. Are you sure? What if you run into Ragnarok?" Miu retorts.

"I will have to take that chance. This is very important."

"Well can't I just walk with you?"

"No."

She gets a shocked look on her face.

'I wonder what is so important or secret that he can't tell me.' Miu wonders.

"This is something that I have to do by myself."

'I can't tell her that I am going to buy tickets to a movie for us. I am hoping that I get the answers I need if I can get the courage to ask her out on a date again. I just hope nobody messes it up again like last time.

"Okay Kenichi, but please be careful. I can't have my Kenichi getting hurt."

'Oh my god. She said 'My Kenichi'.' He thinks excitedly.

A smile starts to make its way to his facial features.

"The others wouldn't be very happy if something happened to their disciple, and my best friend."

Kenichi slows his stride for a moment and his smile quickly turns into a frown.

'Friend.' Kenichi thinks.

'Dang it. I said it again, didn't I?' Miu reflects on what she just said while she bites the tip of her thumb.

'She is so confusing, but maybe I still stand a chance. I can't falter. I need to do this.' Kenichi thinks as he tries to regain his courage.

"I will see you later." Kenichi says as he runs away waving.

'I really need to do something about this.' Miu thinks as she watches Kenichi leave.

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Sakaki stands in front of Kenichi in the dojo. Akisame is off to the side and Shigure is watching from the rafters.

"All right, Kenichi. After we sophisticatedly decided who was going to train you today. You have me to start with." Sakaki says to Kenichi.

"Didn't we just do rock-paper-scissors?" Akisame says to Sakaki.

"Who asked you?" Sakaki retorts.

He turns back to Kenichi and crosses his arms.

"Since you are still refusing to learn the advanced techniques, I am going to go back to basics."

"Basics." Kenichi restates.

"Blocking."

Sakaki throws a punch towards Kenichi's head.

Kenichi uses his right hand to do a sideways block.

Sakaki goes in for a low kick and Kenichi turns the arm he used for the first block downward.

"That was slow Kenichi. You can do better than that."

Sakaki's words ring through Kenichi's head, just like Miu's did when she told him he wasn't good enough.

His off-set mind leaves him too distracted from Sakaki's next punch.

The punch knocks him back.

"What the hell Kenichi?" Sakaki calls out.

Shigure stiffens up and is about to jump down next to Kenichi. She stops herself just before she is about to jump though.

'What am I doing? He is in the middle of training. Why did I have the sudden urge to protect him just now?' She thinks as she continues to watch him.

"Get focused or you are going to get your head knocked off. You're lucky I wasn't going full throttle."

Kenichi gets up and tries to shake off his confusion.

Sakaki goes back at it.

Shigure tries to deal with her own confusion while she continues to watch from the rafters.

'Was that because I just wanted to protect him like the other masters do?'

Tochumaru even notices her confusion and pats her on her shoulder.

'I have felt off ever since last night. What is going on with me?' Shigure wonders.

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"Okay Kenichi. Let's try this again." Apachai says to Kenichi as he slams his mitts together.

"Now remember to stay calm Apachai." Akisame says to Apachai.

Kenichi sweat drops.

Shigure is sitting on the deck. She's slightly leaning back and has herself propped up on her arms. Her legs are swinging back and forth as she watches Kenichi intently. Her head is also canted to the left and she has an ever so slight smile.

Akisame sits down next to her but doesn't say anything.

Kenichi gets into a Muay Thai stance.

"Let's start with kicks."

Kenichi nods and starts kicking the mitts.

While Kenichi is kicking the mitts, Akisame turns to Shigure. She is still watching Kenichi intently.

"You seem to be in quite a good mood today, Shigure. What is the occasion?"

She stops kicking her legs back and forth and looks at him.

"I . . . . am?"

He nods.

"I think that you were actually smiling too."

"I . . . was?"

"Perhaps you didn't even realize that you were doing it."

She shrugs.

"So tell me something. Is there something overly interesting about Kenichi today?"

"Mmmmmm. Why?" She says in confusion while tapping her chin.

"You haven't taken your eyes off of him this whole time. You were even watching him in the dojo."

She tries to hide a small blush.

"He is . . . my . . .disciple . . . too."

Her heart starts racing.

"Hmmmmm. Interesting."

He starts rubbing his chin.

'What is going on with me? Was I really smiling? Have I really been that fixated on him? All I was doing was watching him train.' She thinks.

"Okay." He simply says to her.

"Now it's time to start dodging too, Kenichi." Apachai says to Kenichi.

He starts to swing at Kenichi between kicks.

'Here he goes again. I hope he stays in control this time. If not, then I will have to make sure nothing bad happens to Kenichi this time.' Shigure thinks.

She makes a fist at her side as if she said something cool.

Akisame quirks an eyebrow.

Sakaki comes out and leans against one of the posts.

Kenichi kicks the mitt in a different style.

"Was that a karate kick Kenichi?" Apachai says as his tone gets more serious.

'Crap. I think that was a Karate kick.' Kenichi thinks.

Sakaki gets up from the post.

"Wait! Apachai!" Sakaki calls out.

"This is Muay Thai, Kenichi." Apachai says as he winds up.

His eyes start to glow.

Shigure gets up and starts running.

Apachai swings.

Kenichi tries to dodge but he wasn't quick enough. He gets launched by Apachai's punch and gets sent flying.

'Crap. Not again.' Kenichi thinks.

He closes his eyes and expects the worst.

Akisame's eyes go wide in shock as he watches Shigure.

She stops running and tries to brace herself.

Kenichi flies into her and she grabs ahold of him.

'Did I just hit something soft? And warm?' Kenichi thinks.

They both get sent flying backwards with the force, and they slam against the wall.

Shigure takes the brunt of it.

Kenichi opens his eyes and realizes that he is not indented in the wall and he has a set of arms wrapped around him.

Sakaki and Akisame start running toward them.

Apachai stands there in shock with the mitts against his face.

Kenichi turns around to see Shigure slightly embedded into the wall.

"Shigure!"

She slides out into his arms.

"Yes." She says to him.

"Why didn't you just let him take the hit like usual Shigure?" Sakaki asks.

"I . . . . wanted . . . . him . . . safe."

"He would've been fine."

"This is coming from the man that comes out to watch every time Kenichi trains with Apachai." Akisame says teasingly to Sakaki.

"Coincidence." Sakaki retorts while crossing his arms.

'I can't believe she did that. I wonder what possessed her to do that. I will say though, that it felt nice being held by her.' Kenichi thinks.

He shakes his head.

'What the hell am I thinking?' Kenichi tries to dismiss his thoughts.

"Are . . . you . . . okay . . . Kenichi?"

He smiles at her.

"I am. Thanks to you, but what about you?"

"I'm . . . fine." She says to him.

Kenichi walks over to a crumpled up Apachai and taps him on the shoulder.

"Apa?"

"It's okay Apachai. See. We are fine." Kenichi says to him.

He stands up and hugs Kenichi.

"Next time I try harder for Kenichi, okay?"

Kenichi smiles and nods.

"All of you masters sure are tough." Kenichi says defeatedly.

Sakaki smacks his shoulder.

"You'll just have to do more training kid." Sakaki says to him.

Akisame starts rubbing his chin.

"I do have another strength machine for you to test Kenichi."

Kenichi takes off running.

"Well, I guess I have a little more time to perfect it."

Kenichi goes to his room and writes something down in his book with the dragon on the cover again.

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Shigure sits next to Kenichi at the dinner table again.

Kenichi watches Miu as she eats.

'I need to find the right time to ask her out on a date. I have to ask her now that I bought the movie tickets. Maybe I can ask her after dinner.' Kenichi thinks.

Shigure notices his gaze over to Miu and gets a little slighted.

'He tries so hard for someone that doesn't even return his affection.' Shigure thinks.

She then gets a confused look on her face.

'Why did that just bother me right now?' She wonders.

Miu gets a troubled look on her face as dinner progresses.

'I need to talk to grandfather.'

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Kenichi decided to help with dishes.

'I wish I could be doing this with Miu, but she seemed troubled and left.'

He sighs.

"I guess it is all up to me." Kenichi says aloud.

Just as he says that Shigure happened to walk into the kitchen with her plates.

"What's . . . up . . . to . . . you?"

"Oh. Hey Shigure. Just dishes."

"No . . . Miu?"

He shakes his head.

"Want . . . me. . . to help?" She says as she points a finger at herself.

"What about your injuries? Are you sure that you are okay?"

She looks up and taps her chin with a finger.

"Akisame . . . said . . . I'm. . . okay."

"Are you sure?" Kenichi says out of concern.

"You . . . want . . . to check?" Shigure asks with a completely serious face.

Kenichi's nose nearly gushes at the thought, and his face gets beat red. He hastily turns back to the dishes.

"No. Akisame's diagnosis is good enough for me."

She smirks at his reaction.

She then points at the dish soap.

"What . . . is that . . for?"

Kenichi looks back to her and pauses a moment.

'Is she serious or is she joking? I better not take the chance.'

"It's used to cut the dirt from the dishes."

She draws her sword.

"Did . . . you say . . . cut . . the dirt?"

His eyes go wide and he nearly screams out when he notices the blade.

She raises her arm as if she was going to strike the dishes.

Kenichi starts waving his hands back and forth.

"No, no, no, no, no. Not actually cut the dirt."

She smiles and Kenichi gets a puzzled look on his face.

"Joke." She says as a smirk forms at the side of her mouth.

Kenichi starts laughing.

'Even if it was only a slight smile, she still smiled again. And she made a joke.'

"You had me Shigure."

"I . . . do . . . need . . . help . . . though."

The two of them start to clean the dishes after he shows her the way Miu does it.

"Thank you for what you did earlier." Kenichi says.

She nods.

"I was really surprised that you did that though. I . . . might have been fine if you wouldn't have intervened. What made you do it this time though?"

'Akisame asked me the same thing.' She thinks to herself.

She shrugs.

"Just . . . did it." She replies.

"I don't want you getting hurt on my account though."

"I'm . . okay."

While they clean the dishes, Kenichi starts to admire how beautiful she is.

'I can't believe that I have a master as beautiful as she is.'

Kenichi catches himself admiring her and tries to put his focus back on the dishes.

'There I go again. She is my master and I am her disciple. Why would she even date someone as week as me. Besides, Miu is the one that I have wanted to date this whole time.'

They manage to get the dishes done rather quickly as a team.

"Thank you so much, Shigure. You were a big help."

She nods and starts to walk away.

"You're . . welcome."

She continues to walk away while she hides a blush.

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After getting the dishes done so quickly, kenichi thought that maybe he could cheer Miu up by offering to take her to the movies.

He goes to his room to grab the tickets and heads down the hallway to try to find her.

'I hope she will like the movie I chose.' He thinks.

As he walks down the hallway he hears her voice from one of the rooms.

'I think that is Hayato's room.' Kenichi thinks.

Hayato notices that Kenichi is in the hallway by his footsteps but just dismisses it.

"I just can't do it anymore grandfather!"

Hayato gets a surprised look on his face from Miu's tone.

"What is wrong Miu?" Hayato asks while he strokes his blond beard.

"I can't lead Kenichi on anymore! I know that you wanted me to do this, but I can't do it anymore. I can't keep up this charade anymore just because you are worried that it might break him. It's wrong. I don't want the only reason for him to stay is the belief that he will be able to date me. I only like him as my best friend!" Miu starts bursting out at her grandfather.

After the initial shock from her outburst Hayato remembers that Kenichi is right outside of their doorway and he tries to wave his hands to stop Miu's rant.

"Wait. Miu."

Kenichi heard everything that she said and he stands there in shock.

"No Grandfather. I will not wait or delay this any longer. It's getting too hard on me to keep this up, and I don't want to set him up for an even greater fall by delaying it. Haven't the others except maybe Shigure and Apachai already figured it out too?"

Kenichi's heart skips a beat.

'This can't be happening. This can't be true. Please tell me that I am just imagining this.' Kenichi tries to deny what he just heard.

Miu gets up and runs for the door after her little outburst.

Hayato puts his hand to his face.

'The damage is done.' Hayato thinks as he watches what is about to unfold.

Miu opens the door just to see Kenichi standing there.

A look of horror comes over both of their faces as they see each other.

Miu holds a hand up to her face.

"Oh my god. Kenichi. . ." She says as she tries to reach out to him.

Tears start to well up in his eyes, and he clenches the tickets in his hand.

He darts off without even looking.

He slams into Sakaki.

Sakaki had just turned the corner down the hallway with a bag slung over his shoulder.

Kenichi bounces off of him and falls to the floor.

"Hey! What's up Kenichi?"

Kenichi shakes his head, gets back up, and darts back off to his room.

"What the hell was that about?" Sakaki says as he looks down the hallway and sees Miu.

Miu starts crying and heads off to her room.

Sakaki walks up to Hayato's room.

"I know that we aren't supposed to get involved in personal issues, but do you mind telling me what the heck that was all about?"

Hayato looks at Sakaki.

"He found out."

"Awww hell." He says to Hayato.

He pulls a bottle of beer out of his bag and walks off.

"It's going to be a long night. Poor kid." He mutters under his breath.

'Now what is going happen? Maybe I should let the others know what just happened. ' He thinks as he walks away.

Kenichi shuts himself in his room.

He collapses onto his bed in confusion.

"What the hell did I just hear?" Kenichi mutters out.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading my Kenichi story. I hope you enjoyed the second chapter.

V1.1


	3. Chapter 3: Turmoil

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

I do not own Kenichi.

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter. I am still only updating about once a month. My main focus is still on my Familiar Of Zero story.

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Chapter 3

Turmoil

Friday morning at Ryozanpaku.

Everyone except for Kenichi was getting ready for breakfast.

Miu had gotten breakfast ready before her and Kenichi head off for school like usual.

Miu had an emotionless face as she had gotten all of the trays set.

Grandfather, Kensei, Akisame, Apachai, and Sakaki were all sitting at the table.

No one has said a word yet.

Sakaki had an annoyed look on his face from the awkward silence.

Kenichi had not walked out to get his breakfast yet.

"Why is everyone so quiet?" Apachai speaks up.

Kensei and Akisame just sip their tea.

"Apa?" Apachai says as he whips his head back and forth, looking at everyone.

Shigure walks into the room and instantly notices that Kenichi was not at the table like he usually is.

'Hmmmmmmm.' She thinks.

She stands by her tray on the table and then looks at Kenichi's empty seat.

"Where . . . is . . . Kenichi?" She asks aloud.

Miu gets a sad look on her face, but doesn't say a word.

Sakaki grits his teeth at the silence from the others.

"Apachai don't know. Kenichi never misses breakfast." Apachai innocently says to Shigure.

Shigure gets a bothersome look on her face and looks at the others.

'Do I really have to ask again?' She thinks.

"Where . . . is . . . Kenichi?" She asks again.

Sakaki slams his hand on the table.

"The cat is already out of the bag. Doesn't anyone else have the balls to tell her?" Sakaki says to the others.

Apachai looks back and forth at everyone again.

Sakaki looks at Shgure, who is staring at him with a puzzled look on her face.

'What is going on? Everyone was quiet last night after dinner.' Shigure wonders.

"Kenichi found out that Miu only likes him as a friend and that Hayato was having her act like she likes him an order to keep him here. Is that about right?" Sakaki says as he looks over in Miu's and grandfather's direction.

Miu covers her face.

Hayato puts a hand on Miu's shoulder.

Apachai sits there with his jaw dropped and lets out an innocent "Apa."

"Well that was awful blunt." Kensei mutters.

"Not one for tactfulness, are you Sakaki?" Akisame says to Sakaki.

"No reason to beat around the bush, and I told both of you that I didn't like this when we figured it out." Sakaki says to Akisame and Kensei.

"He . . . was . . . Being . . . tricked?" Shigure asks.

Akisame sweat drops.

'Perhaps . . . . this should have been thought over a little more.' Akisame worries.

'I think that it might be in my good health to stay away from her for quite a while along with my camera. I can't tell if she is upset, but I don't want to mess with an upset Shigure.' Kensei thinks.

Sakaki gets an obviously worried look on his face as he looks at Shigure.

'She may be hard to read, but her ki is certainly an indication of how she is feeling.' Sakaki thinks.

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Kenichi slowly gets ready for school.

He has bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

'All of the others are probably ready for breakfast.'

He puts a couple books in his bag and then pauses a moment.

He lets out a sigh.

'There is no way I can face them right now. I just can't. Especially Miu and grandfather.'

He closes his bag.

'I will just have to get something from a vending machine.'

Just before reaching for his door, he takes a deep breath.

He rushes out of his room, down the hall, and continues past everyone at the table.

"Bye. I am heading off for school." He says to them as he waves and gives them all a fake smile.

Shigure is stunned as she watches him rush past and leave.

'This is not good.' Shigure thinks.

Miu runs off.

Sakaki shakes head.

'The kid didn't even eat breakfast.' Sakaki thinks.

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Shortly after Kenichi left, Shigure starts sneaking around in the rafters and drops down into Kenichi's room.

'Maybe one of his books will help me.' She thinks.

She starts rifling through his books and reads them while lying on his bed.

She takes a big whiff of his bed.

'This smells like Kenichi.' She thinks and smiles.

Tochumaru helps her out by getting the books for her that are along the shelf.

She tries reading through the books to find something that will be useful to her.

Book after book start littering the bed all around her.

She ends up dozing off for a short while on his bed, but eventually wakes up and starts reading again.

Tochumaru was about to get to a peculiar black book with a dragon on the cover that was the last to read when she hears Kenichi come home and start walking to his him.

He is about to open the door.

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After school lets out, Kenichi slowly walks to the gardening club.

'Man, this is bad. I haven't been able to focus all day. Plus I have been wasting energy trying to avoid Miu.'

As Kenichi makes his way to the greenhouse like a zombie, he hears a voice as if out from nowhere.

"Hello Kenichi."

A chill shoots up his spine.

He looks over and it is Niijima.

Kenichi sighs.

"Not now Niijima." Kenichi says as he tries to keep walking away.

Niijima follows behind.

"What's with the glum look?"

Kenichi doesn't say a word and just keeps going.

'Nijima is the last person that I would like to see right now.'

"You look like you just got dumped by Miu or something." Niijima says as he starts his maniacal laugh.

Kenichi turns around and punches Niijima.

As Niijima flies back from Kenichi's punch he looks up into the sky.

"Oh look! I think I see my mother ship." Niijima says as his snake-like tongue flails about.

He lands on the ground writhing and twitching.

Kenichi continues walking.

Takeda walks up to Niijima's dazed body and looks at him. He has his school bag slung over his shoulder.

"What did you say to Kenichi this time?" He says to Niijima.

Niijima pops up.

Takeda backs up in surprise from the fact that Niijima recovered so quickly.

Niijima starts typing in his PDA.

"That hit was harder than usual. I have to update his information."

Takeda shakes his head.

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Kenichi finds Izumi in the gardening club already. She is wearing the typical school uniform with a sailor shirt and black skirt.

When she sees Kenichi, she instantly smiles.

"Hi Kenichi!" She says and waves at him.

He gives her a wave and a half smile.

While she shows him a few plants that have started to bud, she notices that something just seems off about him.

He grabs his straw hat and a watering can.

He starts tending to the flowers with Izumi.

His mood starts to perk up as he puts his focus completely into his gardening activities.

'He seemed sad earlier. Maybe now is my chance.' Izumi thinks to herself and shifts her glasses.

She starts to reach for Kenichi's shoulder as he is bent down tending to some plants.

Just as her hand is about to reach his shoulder to get his attention, there is a knock on the door.

She sheepishly backs away and pouts.

"Who could that be?" Kenichi asks.

Izumi shrugs her shoulders and goes over to the door.

As she opens the door, she is forced to look up at a hulking mass.

She turns pale and passes out.

Kenichi, with the speed of a leopard, rushes over to catch her before she falls to the ground.

He looks over into the doorway and shock comes over his face.

Sakaki is standing just outside the doorway.

"What's with her?" Sakaki asks.

"I think you scared her half to death."

Kenichi gently sets her on a bench.

Sakaki also sits on a bench. It creaks a little bit from his weight.

She wakes up after a couple moments and sits up in panic. She freezes when she sees Sakaki.

Kenichi sees that she is about to let out a scream.

"It's okay Izumi. He is one of the masters at the dojo I am training at." He says to her.

This quells her enough from screaming.

"So. . . . . . He's not here to wreck the place?" she sheepishly asks.

"I don't think so." Kenichi says in response.

"Give me some credit kid." Sakaki says smugly to him.

Sakaki turns his head to Izumi.

"Hi. I'm Sakaki. I'm just here to talk to him." Sakaki says to Izumi.

"O . . . kay. I'm Izumi." Izumi says nervously.

"It's okay Izumi. I will finish up here and then close up." Kenichi says reassuringly to her.

She nods.

"I will see you in the morning then. Bye Kenichi." She says to him and waves.

He waves back, and then she leaves.

Kenichi's facial expression changes to a mix of annoyance and anger.

"What are you doing here, Master Sakaki." He says to Sakaki with a stressed tone.

"As I said, I want to talk to you."

"What if I don't want to listen?" Kenichi says in retort as he crosses his arms.

"Then you have two other choices. I can follow you around 'til you do listen. You know you can't get away from me. Or I can beat you to a pulp so you have to listen."

"That's not a very good way to get my attention."

"Do I look like a diplomat? My fists usually do my talking."

Kenichi sighs in defeat.

"Okay. The first option it is."

"Good."

Kenichi hangs up his hat.

"This better not be another trick to make sure I stay at the dojo."

Sakaki shakes his head.

"I just wanted to tell you how I feel without the others around."

Kenichi gets a puzzled look on his face.

"Even if you don't believe me, I at least want you to hear me out."

"I am listening." Kenichi says apprehensively.

"I didn't like what was going on. As soon as Kensei, Akisame, and I figured it out, I told them I didn't like it."

Sakaki emphasizes this by pointing a thumb at himself.

"It was only just recently we figured it out. The old man never told us anything, but we assumed that somehow he knew that we knew. "

Kenichi grabs his own head and ruffles his hair in frustration.

"Why didn't anybody tell me? Why would you guys even let this go on?"

"I think that the other two were okay with it to some extent. They like you and they didn't want you to leave."

"What about you Sakaki?"

"I didn't like it, but I also didn't know how to handle this. I told you that I am not a diplomat. I also told you not to ask me for relationship advice. I was once played for a fool in my past too. I know what it's like Kenichi."

Kenichi's mood lightens a little when he hears that Sakaki had something happen in his past too.

"We aren't supposed to ask questions or interfere in each other's affairs at Ryozanpaku, and this went too far."

"Is it really true that the only reason that he had her lie to me was because he thought that I would leave?"

"How am I supposed to know? That is the only thing that I've got to work with though."

"Do Shigure and Apachai really not know?"

"We never talked about it with them."

Kenichi sits down and puts his head in his hands.

Sakaki stands up and heads for the door.

Just as he is about to open the door, he looks over his shoulder at Kenichi.

"I don't know if you are going to stay at Ryozanpaku Kenichi, and I am not going to ask you. I wouldn't blame you if you did leave. You probably don't even know what you are going to do. But I hope that you at least say goodbye if you are going to leave. I like ya kid, and I am sorry that this happened."

He leaves and shuts the door behind him, leaving Kenichi in there with his own thoughts.

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Kenichi arrives at Ryozanpaku and hesitates before opening the door.

He opens the door after a moment and slowly walks in.

Then, he heads straight for his room, ignoring everything else.

He opens the door and walks inside.

What he didn't see was Shigure replacing a ceiling tile just as he was walking in.

After an already long day, he decides to just collapse into his bed.

He opens his eyes after he notices something peculiar.

'Why do I smell Shigure's scent?' He thinks as an unconscious smile comes across his face.

He looks around his room.

'Everything seems to be in place. All of my books are in place and nothing else seems moved out of position.'

He shrugs it off and sits up.

'What the hell am I going to do?' He asks himself.

He heads out of his room and continues on to go outside.

He first runs into Miu in her practice uniform.

She sweat drops after seeing the frown on his face.

After a slightly awkward pause, she speaks up.

"Hey Kenichi. I was just about to do some warmups. Did you want to join me?"

He stares at her for a moment.

'There's no way I could with my current mindset, especially with her.'

"No. Not today."

Miu freezes in place while Kenichi just walks past her.

As he keeps walking, He runs into Akisame as he is exiting the dojo.

"Good afternoon Kenichi. Are we training today?" He asks Kenichi.

'You haven't even tried to approach me. At least Sakaki did.' Kenichi thinks to himself as he looks at Sakaki.

He sighs.

"No. Not today."

As he walks, he sees Sakaki standing in the middle of a half a dozen pillars. Sakaki's back is turned to Kenichi.

Sakaki notices Kenichi over his shoulder but doesn't say a word to Kenichi.

'I said what I needed to say to him.' Sakaki thinks.

Kenichi watches as Sakaki gathers his ki. His hands are in fists at his sides in a standard karate stance while he does this.

Kenichi watches this for a moment.

When Sakaki releases his ki, he uses a quick flurry of kicks and punches that knock the tops of the pillars off while the lower halves still remain.

'It's amazing how much power all of the masters have.' Kenichi thinks.

He continues walking around.

He comes to another area and finds Kensei balancing on a thin pole that the tip of his foot can barely fit on.

Kenichi scowls after a moment.

'Was it really worth lying to me to keep me here?' Kenichi wonders.

He walks away.

"Hey Kenichiiii!" Apachai calls out.

He walks over to Kenichi.

"Nobody wanted to play rock-paper-scissor today. Did you want to train with me even though you are sad?" He asks Kenichi.

Kenichi smiles at him.

'Ever so blunt and innocent. I can't be mad at him, but I don't feel like it today.'

"I am sorry Apachai, but not today."

He walks away from Apachai.

At first, Apachai looks sad, but then he gets a serious look on his face and jumps away.

Kenichi stops in the middle of a short bridge over a pond and stares at his reflection in the water.

'I don't know what to think. I am so confused. I am really wondering if I should stay. Maybe I would be better off leaving. I've been lied to and had my heart torn out because of the lies. Ragnarok wants to hunt me down and is causing a lot of trouble in my name. I am still so weak according to Miu and the other masters. Do I even stand a chance against them? Maybe if I leave, then the problems with Ragnarok will also go away. Who am I to fool with my ideal to protect everyone?'

He sighs heavily and looks up into the sky.

'How am I supposed to feel about Miu and all of the other masters over this whole situation? I want to train to protect people, but what are my reasons anymore?'

Shigure was watching him intently from a tree.

'What is going on in his head? He seems very conflicted.' She wonders.

Her attention gets deflected when she sees Apachai.

'Miu will be serving dinner soon. I think that I am going to skip it too. Besides, I am not very hungry anyways.' He thinks as he starts to make his way back to his room.

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Shigure hangs upside-down from a branch and stares at Apachai.

"Apachai?"

He looks back to her. He is holding a voodoo doll that resembles Kenichi in one hand and a hammer in the other.

"I will use this to make Kenichi feel not so sad anymore."

He holds the doll up to the tree and is about to strike a nail into it.

"For Kenichi's happiness!" Apachai calls out as he starts pounding the nail in.

Shigure decides to help him out by holding the nails for him.

'Maybe it will work.' She thinks.

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Shigure comes to the table and notices that Kenichi is not there again.

"No . . . Kenichi . . . again?"

Miu looks down and seems really upset.

'He needs to eat.' Shigure thinks.

She looks down and sees both her tray and his tray.

With a swift motion, and under the cover of her kimono, she grabs both trays and walks away.

Akisame narrows his eyes as he watches Shigure walk away.

'What is going on with her? Something seems to be changing with her.' He thinks as she walks away.

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After a sigh, Kenichi goes to turn away from his window and nearly bumps into Shigure.

He was about to holler out but she puts a hand over his mouth.

"Shhhhh. . . . Don't . . want . . . others . . . to know." She whispers to him.

He gets a puzzled look on his face, but he nods.

She lets go.

He notices that she has a tray with two serving of food on it.

"Eat. . . with me." She says quietly to him.

'This is really unusual of her. I kind of don't want to turn her down, but I just want to be left alone to think.'

He starts to shake his head.

The smell of the food hits his him and makes his stomach grumble.

She looks at his stomach and then cants her head.

"Eat . . . . with me." She says again.

He nods and smiles at her.

They both sit on his bed across from each other.

She takes the chopsticks and gets a piece of fish for him. She holds her hand underneath what she picked up with the chopsticks in wait for him to open his mouth.

"I could feed myself." He says to her.

She doesn't change her position.

'I guess it can't be helped.' He thinks.

He opens his mouth and she proceeds to feed him.

As he chews the food, he gets a small blush.

'That was actually kind of nice.' He thinks to himself.

After a few more bites, he grabs the other set of chopsticks.

'I should return the favor.'

He picks up a piece of fish and holds it out to her and waits.

"Your turn." He whispers to her.

This time she is the one to blush.

'Kenichi feed me?' She ponders.

She pauses a moment.

"It's only fair, and you need to eat too." He says as he reasons with her.

She closes her eyes and opens her mouth.

He puts the food in her mouth.

'This is not an unpleasant thing to do with Kenichi.' She thinks to herself.

They keep doing this 'til the food is gone.

She was just about to get up from the bed.

"Shigure?"

She looks at him.

Both of them are still blushing from the intimate moment that they just shared.

"Thank you. That was very nice, and you saved me from facing the others."

She gives him a smile from the compliment.

'There's that beautiful smile again.' He thinks.

She exits back up into the rafters.

After she leaves, he grabs his black book and writes in it.

He puts it back away after he writes a few things down.

He hears a knock on his door and he gets up to open it. When he opens the door, Miu is standing there.

His eye twitches.

She has her hands nervously clasped together in front of her.

"Kenichi, can we please talk about this? I am really upset over this."

"I can't deal with you right now." He says to her.

The frown on his face makes her feel even more guilty than what she already was.

"My feelings for you were used against me and people were just letting it happen." He says to her.

Without another utterance, he slowly closes the door.

He collapses back onto his bed and goes back to his conflicted thoughts.

'I think that I might need to spend some time away to figure things out.' He thinks to himself before he goes to sleep for the night.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading my Kenichi story. I hope you enjoyed the third chapter.

V1.1


	4. Chapter 4: Home

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

I do not own Kenichi.

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter. I am still only updating about once a month. My main focus is still on my Familiar Of Zero story.

Here is a special update for you. I was in the mood to type up another chapter of my story. So here is an early release for everyone to read.

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Chapter 4

Home

Saturday, after the half day of school.

Kenichi is walking to Ryozanpaku.

'Another day without a proper breakfast. I definitely can't keep this up. I am going to go home to get away from Ryozanpaku long enough to figure out what I am going to do. There is no way that I can spend the rest of the weekend at Ryozanpaku. I just hope Honoka doesn't bother the hell out of me.'

He stops as he gets right in front of the huge doors of Ryozanpaku.

"This could possibly be the last time I come to this place. I will stick by whatever I decide this weekend."

He pushes one of the doors open and enters.

He makes a slow trek across the path.

'So much has happened since I started here. So many memories already. So much blood, sweat, and tears that I have poured into this place.'

He goes straight for his room and starts to pack up some things into a bag.

He picks up a black book off of the shelf with his other books.

"I don't even know why I am still bothering with this, but I guess I will take it anyways. Maybe I will make one more entry before I cast it aside."

Kenichi puts the book in his bag and zips it up.

He takes a good look around his room as a flood of emotions and memories cross through his mind.

He puts the bag on his back and heads out.

He sees Akisame meditating on a pillow as he walks outside, and Apachai is keeping 3 balls up in the air by kicking them in rapid succession.

Apachai sees Kenichi and he stops kicking. The balls fall to the ground.

Kenichi walks to Apachai and gives him a hug.

He releases and then starts to walk away.

Apachai's eyes start to get watery.

As he walks towards the doors of Ryozanpaku he notices Sakaki within the shadows, leaning against a tree.

'I am not going to turn to him, but I will at leans adhere to his wishes.' Kenichi thinks.

"I don't know if I am coming back, so I am saying goodbye." In a hushed tone, Kenichi speaks this to him in a hushed tone.

"Good luck out there kid."

Kensei and Miu watch Kenichi from opposite corners of the house. Miu is standing there with a broom in her hand.

'I wish he would've talked to me. I am so sorry Kenichi. Izumi told me that Sakaki visited the club, but what did he say to Kenichi.' Miu thinks with mixed feelings of sorrow, guilt, and confusion.

Shigure walks up next to Miu and notices everyone watching Kenichi.

"What's . . . . going on."

Miu nearly jumps out of her skin in surprise.

"I think he is leaving us."

"And no one is . . . . stopping him?"

Miu looks away.

"He wouldn't listen to me even if I tried." She sadly admits.

Confusion strikes her facial features.

'Why aren't they saying anything to him?'

Then her confusion turns to anger towards them.

'Are they really willing to let this happen?'

She starts walking in a rush toward Kenichi.

He reaches the doors and opens one of them.

'Here I go.'

He starts to set a foot forward when he feels his hand grabbed.

'Is this Miu's hand?' He asks himself in wonder.

Shock comes to his facial features as he turns his head and sees Shigure standing there, holding his hand.

Everyone else stands and also watches in bewilderment.

'Hmmmmmmm.' Akisame thinks as he strokes his chin.

'What the hell? Shigure?' Sakaki thinks in surprise.

"Well this is surprising." Kensei says to himself.

'Shigure?' Miu also thinks as she watches her interact with Kenichi.

'Apa?'

"Sh-Shigure?"

She releases his hand and pulls away when she realizes that she was still holding it.

"Leaving?" She simply asks.

'Oh man. I hope she doesn't use her chain sickle on me to keep me here. Wait a minute. She would have done that already if she was going to.'

He nervously nods.

He looks at her in wonderment as he watches her actually look nervous and at a loss for words.

She can't figure out what to say to him next.

She opens her mouth to say something, but then it closes again.

'This is odd. I've never seen her act like this before.'

"Did you find out about what happened a couple days ago?"

She nods in response.

He sighs.

'What do I say to him? Why can't I figure out what to say to him?'

"Are you worried about me? Is this your way of checking on me?"

She nods again.

"Thank you Shigure. That means a lot to me. I need to go clear my head though, and I can't do that here. I am not ready to be around certain people yet."

"You've . . . skipped meals." She adds to what he said.

"Yeah."

"Coming . . . . . Back?"

Kenichi actually sees worry strike her facial features.

'Damn. This is actually making my heart ache. I have never seen her act like this.'

"I don't know if I am. I have to decide what I am going to do. I want you to know that I appreciate everything that you have done for me Shigure. I will miss you if I don't come back."

She clamps her mouth shut as she feels her mouth quiver after hearing his words.

He turns back to head out the doors.

"Where . . . . are you. . . . going?"

He stops.

'Do I tell her?'

He doesn't turn around.

He gives her a glance over his shoulder.

"You're not going to tell the others?"

She shakes her head.

He looks back forward.

"Home." He whispers to her as he goes through the door.

The only other sound that is heard throughout Ryozanpaku, is the sound of the door being shut.

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Kenichi walks into his parent's house.

"Honoka, is that you?"

"No mom, it's just me." Kenichi says with a not so enthusiastic tone.

Saori pops her head out of the kitchen door. She is wearing her yellow, short sleeve top with a long sleeve purple shirt underneath it. She is also wearing her usual navy skirt to go with it. She is also accessorized with her usual apron.

"Well don't sound so happy."

"Sorry mom. It's good to see you."

He goes over to her in the kitchen and gives her a hug.

"Sit down. I'll get you something to eat."

Kenichi starts rubbing his stomache.

"I couldn't even tell you how hungry I am."

"Where is Honoka, mom?"

"She is out on a play date."

Kenichi gets a concerned look on his face.

"With who?"

'I hope she doesn't say that she is going to Ryozanpaku.'

"She playing with some friends from class. So she isn't going to be home right away."

He sighs in relief.

"What's wrong Kenichi? You seem troubled. Did something happen?"

He starts scratching the back of his head.

Kenichi's father, Mototsugu, listens in on their conversation from the living room.

Saori notices him and starts tapping a ladle in her hand as she gives him a sideways glance.

He backs away from the doorway.

Saori waits for Kenichi to answer her, but he doesn't give her one.

Kenichi struggles to figure out what to say to his mom.

'Do I tell her about what happened at Ryozanpaku?'

"Did something happen at Ryozanpaku?"

He freezes.

'Did she take lessons from Akisame and I didn't know?'

"So I was right."

"Yeah. I am just trying to figure out what I am going to do, and I can't figure it out while I am there."

She finishes whipping him up a sandwich and some fresh fruit on the side.

She takes the plate into the dining room and sets it down for him to eat.

"So you don't want to tell me about it?"

"I am sorry mom, but I can't right now. I don't even know how I would start explaining it to you."

"Well, you do know that you can tell me anything that is troubling you, right?"

He nods.

"Well, I am sure you will talk to us when you are ready."

He nods again.

"Thanks for understanding mom."

"I will be right back son."

She leaves the room while he starts eating.

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Saori enters into her room and finds her husband sitting on the bed with his arms crossed.

"What's wrong with our son?"

"He didn't tell me. The only thing that I know is that something happened at his dojo and he trying to figure out what to do. He said he would tell me when he is ready."

She goes to her dresser and pulls out an envelope from one of the drawers.

She pulls out one voucher from it and starts to head back.

Isn't that for our little weekend getaway that we were going to take?"

She nods.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"I am going to give it to our son."

His jaw drops to the ground in shock.

"But that was for us. We were really looking forward to that." Mototsugu says in a whiney voice.

"I am sure that I will be able to . . . . win . . . . another one, and I think that he needs this right now more than us."

"What are you going to do with the other ticket?"

"I think that he might end up having another guest."

He gives her a puzzled look.

"Women's intuition." She says to him.

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After Kenichi finishes the food that Saori gave him, he sits down on the couch and looks at his black book.

His mom comes into the room.

He closes the book and sets it on the end table.

She holds the voucher out to him.

He slowly takes it.

"What is this mom?"

"It is a voucher to a small resort spa. Your father and I were going to go there but we want you to have it. Besides, you probably wouldn't be able to think too clearly when your sister comes back."

"I suppose you are right. Are you sure?"

She smiles and nods.

"Now you better hurry up and go. You don't want to waste it."

"Oh. Your right."

He gets up in a rush to gather a couple things before he leaves.

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"Now here is the address and what route you should take to get there."

"Thanks mom."

He gives her another hug before he leaves.

"Where did dad go?"

"I don't think that you need to worry about him. Go on ahead."

"Alright mom. Thanks again."

He exits the house.

Saori's husband comes out wearing a trench coat and has a serious look on his face.

"Come to me Maximilian!" He hollers out.

An electronic dashboard starts lighting up behind a wall with some paintings on it.

One of the paintings move and a tray with a shotgun on it extends out.

"And what are you going to do with that?" Saori says to him with her hands on her hips.

"I am going to trail him. If something is happening to our son then I will do everything I can to protect him."

"But don't you have some work to do this weekend?"

"Everything will be fine. I will call my boss. Our son is more important than anything that I have going on at work."

*Clang.*

He falls to the floor writhing and twitching from being hit with a large frying pan.

After he falls to the floor, the black book falls off of the end table. It opens up as it hits the floor.

"Isn't that the book that Kenichi was looking at?" She asks aloud.

She walks over to the book, picks it up, and reads the page that was open.

"Oh my." She says in shock as she puts her hand in front of her mouth.

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Shigure stood there, watching to see if the door would open up again.

After a few moments, she turns around and starts slowly walking back. She keeps her usual stoic face, but her walk has sadness in it.

On her walk back she comes within a couple yards of Miu.

Miu and her exchange looks. Shigure never losing her poker face.

'Why do I feeling like I am being glared at even though I can't see that expression on her face?' Miu asks herself.

'What she did to him was wrong. Why would they play with his feelings like that? I am very angry.' Shigure thinks as she looks at Miu.

She furrows her eyebrows as she looks at Miu.

The look startles Miu to her core.

"You . . . . wasted . . . . his affection."

Shigure walks off.

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Shigure walks all around Ryozanpaku trying to find a place to ease her mind.

"All I have to do is wait the rest of the weekend out, right?'

She goes up into the rafters of the dojo and leans against a post.

She starts to settle herself in, and then she looks down.

She starts to envision him practicing.

'Damn. This spot isn't going to work.'

She gets up and moves on to find another spot.

She walks by the typical outside training area.

She starts to envision him there too.

'No good.'

She tries to walk around some of the trees.

'I used to watch him from some of these.'

She walks along the perimeter and comes across the indentation that she made when she caught him and smacked into the wall from Apachai's punch.

As she walks by it, she runs her fingers along the inside of it.

'I remember how it felt to hold him.'

She goes up on the roof to try to find some solace.

She lies down on one side of the roof and her thoughts wander again.

'It was just earlier this week when I heard him talk about me.'

She gets down and walks to her room.

When she gets there, she shakes her head.

'Everywhere I go I can't seem to find a place where I can try to sit peacefully without my thoughts being reverted back to him. It hasn't even been that long since he left.'

She climbs back up into the rafters.

'Everywhere I go I see him. Everywhere I go I remember what he was doing there.'

She starts to crawl around without even thinking about where she is going.

I can't even go to my room because I remember him peeking into there when he first came to the dojo.'

She drops down into another room.

When she looks back up she gets shocked for a moment.

'How did I end up in his room?'

She sits in his bed and lays down in it after a few moments.

She gets a whiff of his scent again.

Tochumaru pops out of her pocket and sits a few inches from her face.

'Why do I feel lonely?'

She sits back up.

'This is no good. I can't focus. I don't know why, but I can't get my mind off of him. What if he decides to not come back? I can't wait the rest of the weekend to find out. I want to go see him. Now.'

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With her grey trench coat on, Shigure discreetly leaves Ryozanpaku.

'I normally don't leave so discreetly, but I don't think that it would be a good idea to let the others know where I am going. I don't think that Kenichi would be very happy if he saw them right now. I hope he doesn't get upset with me for that matter.'

She starts hopping around from place to place to get to his house.

'I don't know what is going to happen. Everything is so confusing. Why am I even going this far to go see him? I am going to his house.'

She stops right in front of his house.

'I can't believe that I am here, but it is too late to turn around. Whatever happens, happens.'

She rings the doorbell.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading my Kenichi story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5: Black Book

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

I do not own Kenichi.

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter. I am still only updating about once a month. My main focus is still on my Familiar Of Zero story.

Sorry for the long wait. I know some of you have been pretty anxious after the way I ended the last chapter.

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Chapter 5

Black Book

Saori takes a deep breath in anticipation of what might be on the other side of the door and then lets it out.

She slowly opens the door and sees Shigure standing there.

She takes in Shigure's appearance. She takes note of her slender but toned build; the long Hair; Pale skin; the purple stocking that emphasize her legs; the rather short, pink kimono; the purple choker around her neck; and the fact that she is well endowed. She also sees the sword strapped to Shigure's back.

She crosses her hands in front of her.

"Hello. How may I help you?"

Shigure senses something about Saori but can't put a finger on it.

A moment of silence passes between the two as they stand there staring at each other.

'Is she going to say anything?' Saori wonders to herself.

Tension starts build with each passing millisecond.

"Is . . . . Kenichi . . . . here?" Was softly uttered by Shigure.

"Are you from Ryozanpaku?"

'Based upon her looks, I think that she might be Shigure.'

Her suspicions are confirmed with a nod from shigure.

Saori shakes her head.

"My son is not here."

While putting a hand on her chin, Shigure starts thinking over the situation.

'He said that he was going to be here. Where else could he have gone?'

She preps to jump away.

"Wait."

Shigure looks back over to the woman that greeted her.

"I know where he is going, but you have to come inside for a bit to find out."

Shigure gets an annoyed look.

"But . . . Kenichi. . " Shigure starts.

Saori crosses her arms as well.

"Can wait." Saori finishes with a very simple but authoritative tone.

With a forced agreeing nod from Shigure, Saori leads her into the house.

'I knew that there was going to be a guest.'

She motions to the couch.

"Please have a seat."

Shigure sits down very elegantly, and Saori sits down across from her.

'She seems like such a well-mannered girl.'

Saori crosses her legs and puts her hands on her knees.

'She has a very commanding presence.' Shigure notes.

"So what is your name?"

"I'm . . . . Shigure . . . Kosaka."

"I am Saori Shirahama. I am Kenichi's mother."

"Nice . . . .to meet. . . you."

"So I have a very sincere question to ask you." The protective mother asks.

Shigure just does her typical blank stare.

"Why is it that you are here and not Miu?"

This startles Shigure, and she shifts nervously in her seat.

'She must know.'

"I . . . . . . . . . . . . .wanted to see. . . . him."

"What about Miu? It is my understanding that he really likes her."

"Mmmmmmmmm."

"If you want me to tell you where my son is, then you have to do better than that."

Shigure sighs.

"Miu . . . doesn't . . . feel . . . the same."

Saori tries to keep her composure as she begins to talk again.

"That's funny, because I thought that they were getting along quite well. Did she have a change of heart? So how did he find out?"

Shigure takes a big gulp.

'She would probably not be happy to hear that her son was deceived, but I think it would be unwise do lie to her about what happed.'

"She . . . was asked . . to . . deceive him."

Saori stands up and starts pacing around the living room.

'I am glad I knew about this before she came here. Otherwise I probably would have really blown up.'

"So I entrusted my son with your dojo and this is how we get repaid?"

Her words pierce Shigure and she looks at the floor as sadness and shame fill her emotions. She could sense in Saori's voice how badly that the trust that she gave her and the other masters at the dojo was compromised. Even though she did not know, she still feels ashamed that this happened.

"I . . . didn't know."

"So only some people knew?"

She nods.

"So are you here to bring him back to Ryozanpaku?"

The seriousness in Saori's voice is not the only thing that Shigure notices.

'Is that Ki?'

Shigure shakes her head.

"Are any of the other masters coming?"

Shigure shakes her head again.

"Kenichi . . . only told . . . me . . where . . he . . . was going. I . . . wasn't . . .followed."

'So he only told her.'

"That is interesting to know. So why are YOU here?"

"He . . . is. . . my disciple."

"Is that all?"

Shigure gets a confused look on her face.

"I . . . don't . . . understand?"

"Is he really only a disciple to you, or do you have deeper feelings for him?"

Saori still sees the confusion in Shigure's face.

"I have something to show you. Maybe after you read it, then you will tell me your answer. How about some tea for now?"

Saori gets confirmation with Shigure's nod.

Shigure watches Saori go into the kitchen for a couple minutes and then rushes back out and upstairs.

After a rather short period of time, Shigure watches her come back down.

'Why did she change into a yukata?'

The yukata she is wearing is solid blue in color with a white belt. The lower half of the yukata is lined with white flowers with a triangular spike of them along one side.

She goes back into the kitchen and comes back out a couple minutes later with a long-spouted brass teapot and a large teacup.

She sets the empty teacup in front of Shigure.

"Because you are a fellow martial artist, I am going to show you something that even my children have not seen me do."

Shigure quirks an eyebrow.

'Fellow martial artist? I thought I felt something about her.'

Saori starts to hum a particular tea pouring tune and starts to flip the pot around by twirling the handle.

As she continues, she zones more and more into her movements.

She starts performing what Shigure could describe as a dance with the teapot.

Saori slowly starts filling up the teacup by pouring from various positions. She even pours some from behind her back and over her shoulder.

The pot gets switched between her hands and twirled around in very precise but flowing movements.

She grabs the top of the spout and swings it around like a hammer.

The yukata's sleeves and lower half flow beautifully with each movement, greatly emphasizing each turn.

She finishes after a couple of minutes doing this. Not a single drop was spilled.

Saori bows to Shigure.

'I didn't know his mom had this kind of talent.'

"That . . . was . . . . wonderful."

"Thank you Shigure. This was something that I learned a while back. It is actually a Chinese art that I modified to suit my own purposes. It is mostly used for show, but I have been in some actual tea pouring fights and won. I also know several other cooking martial arts. I mainly just do it on the side while the kids are at school and my husband is at work."

"Why . . . doesn't . . . Kenichi know?"

"I didn't want to bring the kids into that lifestyle unless they did it themselves. I may let him know soon, once this little dilemma is over."

She leaves the room.

Shigure starts to drink her tea.

'What did she mean by deeper feelings?'

Saori comes back holding a black book with a dragon on the cover.

A flashback to when she was reading books in Kenichi's room comes to her.

'Isn't that Kenichi's?'

"My son left this here when he left to go to the place I told him to go. It is a personal journal of his. I happened to read a couple pages when it fell open. I know it's not polite to share people's personal stuff, but I think that you should read it too. Perhaps you can give me the answer I am looking for when you are done reading."

"O . . . . kay." Shigure says in confirmation, but with some apprehension.

Saori gives it to Shigure and walks away.

Shigure sips her tea while she starts to read the book.

Reading first few pages was already a grueling task to her. She read about his first experiences with Miu and how beautiful and amazing she was.

She feels annoyance and furrows her eyebrows.

'Why is she having me read this? It is all about Miu.'

As she reads, she notices that he takes an odd break from talking about Miu.

He starts talking about his first experience with her and how she nearly killed him with a shuriken while peeking into her room.

'I couldn't help but stare for that moment though. I was captivated by her beauty. I never thought that my only female master would be so beautiful. I hope she never finds out that I think this though. She might kill me.' Was one of the sentences he wrote.

She blushes from him calling her beautiful.

She puts a finger to her chin.

"Why would he think that I would have killed him though?"

She continues reading.

She finds many sections about Miu, but she finds more statements about her as she goes along.

'I found out that Shigure has actually been hanging out around the dojo more often ever since I showed up. I am not even gonna try to understand why though. But it is really nice to see her around for some reason.'

She thinks about what he wrote for a moment.

'I never really noticed the change. When did I start doing that? Why did I?' She wonders.

"Shigure was really sweet today. . . I think. . . In her own way. She tried to give me samurai helmet today. She was trying to give it to me today before my first training with Apachai.'

'He was hit so hard the day before that he didn't remember that he did have training with him already.' She reminisces over that day. Wait. Did he say I was sweet?'

'She seemed worried for me for some reason. I walked away without taking it. I kind of feel bad that I did that. She offered it to me after all.'

'I still think that he should have used it.' She thinks as she reads.

'I've found Shigure staring at me every now and again. It really startles the crap out of me sometimes because it's like something out of a horror movie where the person is stalked and then killed. But the feeling doesn't last long. It's Shigure's thing. It's not so bad as long as if it is her. What does she find so interesting about me though?'

'Do I really do it that much?'

She starts thinking about all the times that she did stalk him.

'Hmmmmm. Maybe I did. Why do I do it so much?'

'I know that I should only be thinking of Miu, but I have started to become really fond of Shigure.'

Her heart flutters from his statement.

"He's . . . fond . . . .of me?"

'Is it wrong for me to have any kind of feelings like this for my master? Who am I kidding? I am only her disciple. It's not like she would have feelings like that for me.'

She touches her chest from the confusing emotions that she sensed from his statement and her own.

'I sometimes wish Shigure wasn't there to catch me every time I try to run away, but I suppose I might actually really run away if she didn't catch me though. I have to admit it though, It's really cute to see how proud she gets when she captures me. I wonder though. The look is almost as if she was a proud hunter who caught a wild beast.'

A smile crosses her face.

'It would be pretty amazing if she captured me and took me away with her and had some kind of romantic getaway instead.'

Her cheeks become deeply flushed from the thought of what he implied and having a romantic evening alone with him.

'Why am I even thinking that? It's not like that would ever happen, and I have to keep my focus on Miu.'

'Why do I feel hurt from that last statement I read?'

'Miu's confusing statements really make it hard to figure her out. I have been finding myself thinking about Shigure even though I shouldn't.'

'Is it really that wrong for him to like me?' She questions.

'I've gotten used to Shigure sitting on my back while I do pushups. I think she must have gotten used to it too because she does it all the time now. I have to admit that sometimes it is very distracting. I can't help thinking about that beautiful butt of hers that is sitting on my back.'

"Hmmmmm?"

She turns to look at her butt.

'He likes my butt? I will have to remember that.' She thinks to herself and smiles proudly from the fact that he likes her butt.

She shakes her head.

'Why did I just think that?'

She continues reading.

'Furinji Island was quite the experience. I got to see Miu in a bikini. That was awesome.'

Shigure frowns.

'Shigure looked hot too, but I wish that she would have worn a regular bathing suit though. Oh well. Shigure is Shigure after all. I doubt she will ever wear a swimsuit, let alone a bikini.'

'What's wrong with my bandages and fundoshi? They are comfortable.' She mentally remarks.

'Why did everyone have to turn down my idea of trying to deepen my relationship with Miu though?'

'I guess now I understand why so many of the others were adamant that that wasn't going to work.' She frets.

'I wish it didn't turn into training though. But I am glad I managed through it though. I feel stronger from it though. Especially from Shigure's help.'

She makes a proud motion with her fist.

'Something else really amazing and beautiful happened during that though. '

Puzzlement strikes Shigure's facial features and thoughts.

"What . . . could . . . he mean?"

'I swear that I saw Shigure smile. It was hard to tell from the sunlight, but I know she did. This really makes me happy. I can't stop thinking about it. I also feel closer to her now.'

She touches her chest again.

'Shigure's been coming to dinner every day since we've come back from the island. I am really happy to see that. She's even been sitting next to me. It kind of makes me sad because Miu has never sat next to me.'

'He really loved her. Unfortunate.' She sadly thinks.

She goes on to read another entry.

'I can't believe what happened. Instead of landing into a wall from another one of Apachai's punches, I was caught by Shigure. She jumped in the way. I still don't understand why she did it. It certainly was nice to not hit the wall though. Her embrace was nice too. As much as I love Miu, I have to say that it was really enjoyable being held by Shigure. She smelled really nice too.'

Shigure blushes again.

'I think that if I didn't have Miu, that I would be falling madly in love with Shigure.'

With another flutter of her heart, she touches over that sentence in the book.

'I really need to find out how Miu feels about me.'

She shakes her head. Sadness starts welling up inside of her. His declarations about her and everything that has occurred start getting the better of her emotional barriers.

'Shigure visited me just now. I think that I must have had her worried. She came down from my ceiling just to feed me dinner. It actually was really comforting. I have to admit that I really enjoyed everything about it. I enjoyed being fed by her even though I protested it at first. Then I got to feed her too.'

She touches her mouth as she reflects.

'I enjoyed it too Kenichi.'

'If only I would have had the chance to try to date her instead of Miu. I wonder if she feels the same. Gahhhhhhhh! Who am I kidding! Why in the world would she feel like that for me? I am just her disciple and she is my master. How could she? Everyone always says how week I am. I don't think I am even strong enough to even protect Miu let alone someone like her. Why would someone as strong as her like a man that isn't anywhere near her level like me?'

"But . . . . . Kenichi . . . . I . . "

Tears start to fall on the page she was reading.

'Tears?' She wonders in surprise.

"You like him don't you?"

She nearly jumps out of her skin at the sound of Saori's voice.

She looks up to see Saori sitting across from her.

She is back into normal clothes and without her apron.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. You were really involved in that book."

A huge blush of embarrassment floods her face. The weapons expert starts wiping the tears away.

"What . . . did . . . you . . . ask?"

"You really like him don't you?"

The blush stays on her face as she starts to finally realize what all of her confusing feelings and actions really meant.

She nods in response to Saori's question.

Kenichi's mother gives her a soft but genuine smile.

"So now what?"

"I . . want. . . No . . . Need . . . to see . . him."

"As a master or as a woman?"

"A woman."

"Good."

Saori looks at the clock and then back to Shigure.

"Follow me into the kitchen please." She says to Shigure.

Shigure follows her into the kitchen and Saori starts cleaning her teacup.

After looking around the kitchen, she notices that there is a gigantic spatula haging up high on one of the walls.

Saori notices the weapons master looking at it.

"That was something I picked up after meeting a young girl named Ukyo that specializes in okonomiyaki."

After washing the cup and the plate that goes with it, Kenichi's mom looks over to Shigure.

"Are you planning on wearing that to go see my son?"

Shigure nods and then Saori shakes her head.

"What's . . . wrong . . . with . . . this?" Shigure asks puzzledly.

"If you go to him while wearing that, then he will surely think that you are probably there to retrieve him. You need to go to him as a woman, and not as a master. I guess it can't be helped. You still have plenty of time. So we are going shopping before you go see him. And you can't say no because I refuse to tell you where he is at until afterward."

Shigure slumps her shoulders.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading my Kenichi story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

FYI – the tea pouring thing that I depicted in this chapter is actually a real thing. I came across it while doing some researching. There isn't really a fighting form of it that I know of though. I recommend watching it. My description of it probably doesn't do it justice.

I just posted a new story under the Daily life with a monster girl category It is called Monster Musume: Drago's Quest. It is probably only to be a few chapters long, but please read and review. Thank you.


	6. Chapter 6: Preparations

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

I do not own Kenichi.

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter. I am still only updating about once a month. My main focus is still on my Familiar Of Zero story.

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Chapter 6

Preparations

Kenichi walks down a hall of the spa while wearing a very simple navy robe that was provided by the resort.

He comes across a doorway with the words Zen Walking Garden above it.

"I've heard of these, but I have never been to one. I think I'll give it a try since I am here."

After turning a corner, he is met with beautiful sights and sounds.

He enters into a very long and wide room. The walls of the room are garnished with plants that are well taken care of. In the center of the wall along the left side is a built in waterfall. The sounds of the waterfall fill the room with a very relaxing sound. The outer edges of the room are also lined with wood planks.

Kenichi looks at the center of the room. It is a large Zen garden. Inside of this Zen garden is a path laid out in stone that has 3 areas where the path circles to a central point with a pillar in the center. The garden also has a set of raised wooden planks on it that seem to be only used by employees.

Several other people are in the room.

A man appears in front of him on the raised planks. The man appears to be in his 40's and has a very calm aura about it.

"Hello. I am one of the caretakers of this Zen Walking Garden."

He motions to the Garden.

"Feel free to walk the garden with one mind/one body, but please do not break the Zen of the path and step over it. Cheating will not help you or anyone else. Make sure to absorb the paintings in the centers of the three circles. Please be mindful and cautious to the other people walking the path. The paintings and this room were created by a master of Zen artistry."

"Thank you."

Kenichi steps into the garden through a narrow entrance next to the man on the planks.

The simplicity and flow of the path is very relaxing combined with the sounds of the waterfall.

He circles around to the center of the first circle. On the pillar is a painting.

He raises an eyebrow.

'How is this supposed to be Zen? This is just a bunch of Zen items in a picture.' He thinks to himself.

He stops looking at the painting and notices an older man in his 60's at the next circle.

Even though he is being mindful of the man, he starts to lose his patience after watching the man stare at the painting for a minute.

He crosses his arms.

The worker in the room walks over to the planks that are nearest to Kenichi and whispers to him.

"You must have a very unquiet mind my friend."

Kenichi gives him a puzzled look.

"You must very a very anxious or troubled person. Perhaps that is why you are here. A quiet mind is a patient mind. Please look at the painting again, but REALLY look at it this time. Let the painting tell you when to stop looking."

After the worker says that, he walks away.

"What does he mean by that?" Kenichi thinks as he scratches his head.

After a shrug, he stares into the painting again.

As he stares and really looks at it, his view of it becomes different.

The painting starts changing to him even though it doesn't really change.

Something inside of him clicks as the puzzle unfolds.

A sigh and a smile come from him as if he finished it.

He looks over and the older man is no longer there.

'How long was I standing here?'

He moves on.

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Shigure and Saori are in a clothing store.

Saori has the look of a woman on a mission as she looks through the racks of clothes.

'I'm just going to be seeing Kenichi. Why is she being so particular?' Shigure thinks.

Saori picks up a top from one of the racks. Her nose curls after a moment and she puts it back on the rack.

"So, Shigure, What is it that you like about him? I can tell that you have feelings for him, but what is it about him that you like? It is good for a mother to know these things."

Shigure pauses a moment.

"I . . . never . . . . really thought . . . . about it. . . I just . . . do."

Saori pics up another top and places it against Shigure. She shakes her head and puts it back.

"I guess I can understand why you said that, but I would like something a little better than that."

Shigure sits down on a mini bench that is inside of the store. With an elbow on the arm of the bench, she rests her head in her hand as she starts really thinking about why she likes him.

Saori glances over to Shigure every so often as she keeps rifling through the racks.

The weapons master zones out as she starts thinking about Kenichi and imagines him in her head.

"He is . . . . . handsome."

"That is good. Being physically attracted to him is very good. What else?" Saori says from around a rack.

"He's. . . not fake. He. . . really is. . . honest . . . and caring."

Saori swoons after hearing that come out of Shigure's mouth.

'I still would like to learn more about how she feels for him and why.'

"That's a really good answer. I am really glad you see that. What else is there?"

Shigure looks up.

"Is this. . . an . . . interrogation?"

"Welllllllll"

Saori looks up while tapping her chin.

"My son did pose the question as to why a master would be interested in her disciple. So I figured that I would find out."

"I . . . am . . . a woman . . . . after all."

"This is true, but what about the fact that you are so much stronger than he is? Doesn't that bother you?"

Shigure goes into master mode.

"He trains with all of his heart and never gives up when he starts. He has the potential to be a master himself."

Master mode switches off.

'So that's what it takes to really get her going huh?'

"It . . . also . . . doesn't . . . really bother. . . me. . . if he. . . is . . or isn't. . . . I . . . just. . . like him."

Shigure looks up to see Saori bent over and looking at her with a soft smile.

"Thank you Shigure. I've heard what I really wanted to hear."

She stands erect and Shigure could see that she has a handful of tops, bottoms, and even a dress in her hands.

"Now you need to try these on."

Shigure gulps.

'I just want to see Kenichi.' Shigure inwardly whines.

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Shigure finds herself changing into some underwear that Kenichi's mother had picked out for her.

'Why are we doing this again?'

"You are probably wondering why we are doing this."

'Does she know Akisame?'

"I asked you to do this because you can't just wear those wraps you were wearing with the nice clothes that we just bought. Besides, wouldn't you feel better wearing something nice if Kenichi accidently saw you?"

'I can't believe I just said that.' The mother thinks.

Shigure blushes as she finishes putting on the panties.

"Alright."

Saori peeks inside the changing room and blushes when she gets a good look at Shigure.

'She is really beautiful.'

She shakes her head and analyzes the bra that the weapons master had put on.

"Good. The shape and support are just right for you. Most women don't get the right kind of bra nowadays."

She pulls back out of the changing room and Shigure changes back into her attire.

"Are there any other pairs of underwear that you might want to look at before we move on to your swimsuit and a bag?"

Shigure scratches her head and picks up an odd pair of underwear that has cloth missing from where the crotch would be.

"What . . . is . . . this?"

Saori quickly covers her own eyes and holds out her hand.

"No, no, no. I am NOT ready for that. Please put that back."

She shrugs and puts it back.

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Kenich finishes the garden and the caretaker is there, waiting for him.

"You did well young one. You found your Zen in there and now you seem more relaxed than when you first started. Thank you for coming to The Zen Walking Garden." The caretaker says in a whisper."

Kenichi nods and then leaves.

As he continues, he comes across another set of doors with a woman about the same age as the caretaker from the garden. She is wearing a light colored yukata.

"What is this place?" He asks her.

"This is the sauna. This is where you can sweat away your troubles."

"That sounds nice."

She motions for him to enter.

"Make sure to leave your robe in the changing room and switch to the towel."

He starts to enter.

"Enjoy the experience."

After leaving his robe in a basket, he enters into the Sauna. There is another man in the room with him. He has a stone cold expression on his face and he has a pretty muscular build.

Kenichi sits down about 5 feet away from the man and takes in the heat. Eventually he starts sweating off the stress and fatigue of the past week.

After a minute, Kenichi looks at the man.

'He hasn't budged at all since I've been in here.'

He starts to reach for the man's shoulder and is about to touch it.

Slowly turning his head, the man looks at Kenichi.

Kenichi just about jumps out of his skin when the man looks at him.

"It's hot." He says to Kenichi.

Then he smiles at Kenichi.

"But this is really good for my aching body. It really works wonders." He says happily to the young martial artist.

He gets up and walks out.

Kenichi leans back and calmly reflects.

'What am I going to do about Miu and the others? It really broke my heart when I heard her say everything that she said. How do I handle being mad with only half of the people there at Ryozanpaku? I really hope they don't track me down out here. I guess it might not be so bad if it was just Shigure that came here.'

He puts his face in his hands.

'Why in the world did I tell her where I was going? Now that I know Miu's true feelings, my feelings for Shigure have really been surfacing. How would I hide these feelings if I go back to the dojo? It's not like my feelings for her will be returned either. She is my master. Why in the world would she feel for me like I do for her?'

"Ugh."

'She has been awful nice to me recently though. It's probably just because she feels bad about what Miu did to me. I still can't stop thinking about her though. The embrace she gave me when she caught me before hitting the wall didn't feel like she was just trying to shield me. It was warm and gentle despite the situation. And that dinner we shared in my bedroom was amazing. She seemed like she really enjoyed it too.'

He sighs.

"Oh well. I guess I will just have to chalk it up to another loss. I should just try to enjoy this time to relax for now."

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Along the drive to the resort.

"So I have one more thing to ask you about Shigure."

Shigure looks at her. She could see Saori's face harden as she gets ready to ask her question.

"You and the other masters seem really strong. Have any, or all of you, had to deal with Yami or Yomi?"

Shigure freezes and Saori notices through a sideways glance.

"I thought so. I heard about them through my own training, and I was told not to get involved with them. I was wondering if a group such as yours has had to deal with them. Does Kenichi know about them?"

Shigure shakes her head.

"The . . . . issue . . . has not . . . come up, and . . . . we haven't . . . . been thinking . . . about them."

Saori sighs.

"It's at least a partial relief that they haven't been around, but Kenichi needs to know about them. He is really becoming strong. I don't want him getting blind-sided by anything else. If they could become a threat, then he deserves to know. You can't just leave him in the dark until it becomes too late. I don't like the possibility of them becoming a threat to my son, but I can't choose his destiny for him. But I will be damned if he gets hurt because he is ill informed. You need to make sure he knows about them or I will tell him myself. If I have to tell him, then I will also tell him that that was also being kept secret from him."

The seriousness in her statement is felt by Shigure.

"I promise . . to tell . . . him."

"Even though it could jeopardize your relationship?"

Shigure sadly nods.

"And if he accepts it, then will you also make sure to keep watch over him."

She nods again in response.

Saori's face softens back to normal.

"Thank you for that Shigure. I appreciate your honest response. I feel good about you, and you have passed all of my expectations. I think you are a good fit for my son. I can tell both of you have feelings for each other."

"Thank . . . you."

"Please be good to my son. I love him dearly and I don't want him to get hurt again."

"I will."

The car slowly comes to a stop in front of the resort.

They both get out of the car, and Saori gets Shigure's new bag out of the back seat and hands it to her.

"So here is your bag. Are you ready for this?"

"Yes." Is her response to Saori.

"Good. Then the job of this little nakodo matchmaker is done."

To Shigure's surprise, Saori gives her a hug. The mother has a blush on her cheeks as she does this.

Shigure cants her head.

"Na . . . ko . . . do?"

After letting go of Shigure, Saori quickly goes around to the driver's side of the car and gets inside.

"Oh. Wait! There is one more thing Shigure."

Shigure bends over to look inside of the car.

"What . . is . . it?"

Kenichi's mother nervously gets a little pouch out of her purse and extends her arm out to Shigure while she closes her eyes and turns away.

"I am not condoning any lewd or sexual activity, but I am giving this to you just in case."

Shigure grabs the little pouch and opens it up to look inside. There is a condom and a little tube of lubricant inside. She blushes and closes the pouch back up.

"Now go to your fiancé." Are Saori's final words as she drives off.

Shigure cants her head to the side again.

"Fiance?"

She shrugs and turns around.

As she walks inside of the resort, she notices that she is turning a lot of heads.

'I hope Kenichi likes this dress as much as everyone else seems to.'

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Kenichi stretches his arms up and lets out a sigh and a smile.

'This place sure is nice. I can't believe that mom really let me have her ticket here.'

He makes his way to the hotel part of the resort, and to his room.

He uses his key card to unlock his room and he slowly opens the door. As the door opens he notices an extra robe lying on his bed. As the opens further, he sees a very attractively shaped woman bent over and rummaging through her bag. Her back is to him. The pink dress she is wearing has an open back and a skirt that goes down to just past her knees. A white belt wraps around her hips.

The woman stands straight up, but doesn't turn around.

He blushes and scratches the back of his head.

"I'm not sure how you got in here, but I think that you might have gotten into the wrong room."

She slowly turns to face Kenichi.

His eyes go wide as he sees and realizes who is in front of him.

The front of her dress becomes seen to him as it reveals a halter top that is tied behind the neck. It shows off a respectable amount of her cleavage.

His cheeks become greatly flushed and her cheeks become flushed too as she stares off to the side at the floor.

"Shi-Shigure?" He asks in disbelief.

She nervously nods, still not looking at him in the eyes.

Kenichi struggles to figure out what to say to her as a flood of emotions and thoughts enter his head.

"Yo-you're Beautiful."

A small smile starts to form on her face and she starts to raise her head.

Their eyes finally meet.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading my Kenichi story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Just a reminder, I have a story under the Daily life with a monster girl category. It is called 'Monster Musume: Drago's Quest'.

My 'Familiar Of Zero: Saving Grace' story is up to Chapter 35


	7. Chapter 7: Prove It

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

I do not own Kenichi.

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter. I am still only updating about once a month. My main focus is still on my Familiar Of Zero story.

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Chapter 7

Prove It

After staring at her for what seemed like forever, his brain restarts. He rubs his chin and mouth to make sure that there was no drool.

A very important question pops into his head.

"How did you get here? You didn't follow me, did you?"

She shakes her head.

"Your mom." She simply replies in her usual voice.

He wipes his forehead in relief.

"Whew. I am glad that you weren't tail . . . . . . . Wait . . . . . . . My MOM!" He starts to shout.

She nods.

He smacks his face.

'Really?!' He thinks to himself.

Another thought hits him.

"So did she give you a voucher for here?"

She nods.

'Did she plan this? Why?' He wonders.

His heart starts racing as he thinks about the other masters and how this might be an attempt to drag him back.

"So . . . . . . Are you here to bring me back to Ryozanpaku?"

She shakes her head.

"Not . . . unless . . . you want . . . to go."

"Do the others know?"

She shakes her head.

"Did . . . "

"No . . They . . . didn't . . . . follow me. . . . either."

He sighs and then scratches the back of his head.

"So why are you here?"

"I . . . . wanted . . . to . . . see you."

His heart starts racing again in excitement from hearing that, but he holds it back out of concern.

"You really did?" He says in wonderment.

She nods while blushing and a small smile on her face.

"No tricks?"

'I guess I can't blame him for being skeptical.'

She shakes her head.

"I can honestly say that it is really nice to see you. I have actually been thinking about you a lot lately."

He smacks his mouth and turns around really quick. His face also turns completely red.

'Oh shit! I can't believe I just said that.'

The weapons user takes a few weary steps towards him while his back is to her. After a moment of hesitation while reaching out to him, she lays a hand on his back and gets real close to him.

"Kenichi . . . . . . . I know."

His eyes go wide in shock.

"And .. ." She starts to say.

'I want this too. I need to tell him.'

"I . . . have feelings . . . . for you . . . too."

He looks over his shoulder to see her shyly looking downward with blushed cheeks.

As he starts to look forward again, she presses against him and leans her head on his shoulder. She feels him tense for a moment, but then she gets comforted as that tension releases.

She tries to patiently wait in the moment of awkward silence for his response to her confession.

'Please don't reject me.' She thinks as she worries how he is going to react.

'I've never seen her act like this. This is either a dream or she really means this. But how does she know.'

He looks up to the ceiling and takes a deep breath while he tries to deal with all of the emotions that were running through him.

"How did you know?"

She gives her answer while still resting her head on his shoulder, afraid to leave.

"I . . . . Heard you . . . On the roof. . . . and . . . I read . . your journal." She answers him honestly.

He covers his face with his hands.

"Oh my god." He says softly.

"It . . . fell open . . . at your house, and . . . your mom saw it. So . . . she showed me." She says to him as she adds on to her confession.

He thinks for a moment and then he remembers when he saw it last.

'I last saw it while I was on the couch just before I left for here. That must mean that my mom knows what happened at the dojo. I guess I will have to deal with that later. Right now I have to deal with this. I can't run away from this.'

"So you read all of the stuff I wrote about Miu too?"

She nods while still leaning on his shoulder.

He sighs.

"But, . . . I . . . don't care. . . about that."

This gives some relief to him.

'Even though everyone knew about my feelings for her, I can't imagine what she could have felt while actually reading that if she has feelings for me.'

"Do you really mean it? Do you really share the same kind of feelings for me like I do for you?" He asks softly.

She slowly wraps her arms around him, embracing him from behind.

After nodding into his shoulder, she also decides to give a verbal reply.

"Yes Kenichi . . . I do." She responds back just as softly as he spoke to her.

His heart starts racing again.

He slowly pulls away.

Worry and doubt flow into her thoughts as he does this.

He turns and sees how nervous she is.

He grabs her hands.

"I think I feel slightly light headed from all of this. Would you mind going to the pool with me? I need to cool off a little."

She looks up at him.

"Okay." She says to him.

She grabs her bag and goes into the bathroom. Before closing the door, she pokes her head out and looks at him.

"No peeking." She says in her usual manner.

Kenichi scratches the back of his head.

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The door to the bathroom opens and Shigure comes out slowly.

His eyes slowly look from her head down.

She is wearing a two-piece swim suit. The halter top is yellow with a couple fine black stripes going down each side. It covers up most of her breasts except for a little bit of cleavage. As his eyes keep following down he sees her very defined stomach. Her lower half of the swimsuit is covered by a long, black cover-up skirt.

He struggles to keep himself very calm and takes a very deep breath and lets it out.

'Wow! I don't know how much more of this I can take. First a dress and now a swimsuit. And she looks so hot.'

"You're actually wearing a swimsuit."

She nods while smiling and blushing.

"You . . . like?"

"You have no idea."

As a distraction, he decides to grab the towels.

"Shall we go?" He says to her while motioning towards the door.

"O . . .kay."

They exit out from the room and start walking down the hallway.

As they walk down the hallway, Shigure felt a little embarrassed by the fact that she was wearing a swimsuit instead of her usual attire. She kept looking at Kenichi and his free arm. His other arm was holding towels.

After a couple more moments of this she latched onto the free arm. This slightly surprised him, but it didn't go unwelcomed.

After a couple of steps, she tightened her grip and her breasts started pressing into his arm.

Reflexively he tried to pull his arm away, but his arm wasn't able to budge from Shigure's grip.

She looks over to him with a serious look on her face.

"You . . . . okay?" She asks.

He nods vigorously while he sheepishly smiles.

She faces forward again and they keep walking together.

He tries to focus on where they were going, but his mind kept wandering back to the set of breasts pressing against his arm.

They eventually make it to the indoor pool area after a couple of wrong turns.

Inside, there was a large, L shaped pool. Parts of it were shallower than others. There were also a few tables around the area and beach chairs. There were less than a dozen people in there, including them.

They walk over to a nearby table and set down their towels along with his phone and keycard.

She unties her skirt and takes it off, revealing a bikini styled bottom that was also yellow in color with a black belt on it.

'Somehow, I don't think that this is helping me clear my mind. But I am certainly not going to argue this view. Kensei would be going nuts right now.'

"How about we swim to the other edge of the pool?" He asks her as they walk towards the edge of the pool.

She looks at him blankly.

"What? You did teach me how to swim."

With a clench of a fist, Shigure gets a proud look on her face.

'Yessssssss.' She inwardly muses.

"So?" He asks.

She gives him a nod.

"Okay . . . . . Let's go."

Kenichi starts to enter the pool when he notices her just jump from the edge.

His jaw drops and he just stops all movement and thought as he watches her clear 1 / 4 of the pool with just her jump. After she enters the water, she swims like a fish and makes it to the other side on no time at all.

He sighs.

"I should've known better." He says as he shakes his head.

She pops her head out of the water and looks side to side for him. When she doesn't see him, she turns around and sees that he is still at the other side of the pool.

Some of the other people in the pool start clapping after seeing her performance.

Her cheeks get slightly flushed in embarrassment, but then quickly recovers as the clapping dies down.

She crosses her arms as she looks at him.

He puts his hands up in defense.

"Alright, Alright. I'm coming."

He starts swimming toward her after he gets inside of the pool.

Stroke after stroke, he makes his way across the pool.

He eventually makes it to the end as he reaches for the edge.

He feels something squishy.

He lifts his head and wipes the water away from his eyes. He opens his eyes to see that his hand was firmly clasping one of her breasts.

His face turns many shades of red and he lets go. He turns his face to the side in embarrassment.

She starts to giggle.

'Is she really giggling?'

He gets a playful smile on his face and gives her a little splash.

She smiles at him after she recovers and gives him a splash back.

After they share a few more splashes she gets a determined look in her eyes.

'Oh crap.' He thinks as he starts to worry.

She cranks her arm back and then slashes at the water as though her arm was a sword.

The splash ejects him out of the water and onto the floor just outside of the pool.

"Ugh!"

Some gasps of shock were heard from the fact that she not only made that huge of a splash, but for the fact that it shot him out of the pool.

She gets a momentary look of surprise on her face.

"Oops." She dumbfoundedly says before she gets out of the water and sits next to him.

He opens his eyes and starts rubbing the back of his head.

"You . . . okay?" She genuinely asks.

He starts laughing.

It starts out as a chuckle, but then she also starts laughing with him.

"Are they inhuman?" one person asks another.

Their laughter settles down the worried onlookers.

When their laughing settles down, he looks at her and smiles.

"What?" She asks him with a puzzled look on her face.

"It was nice to see a side like that come out of you."

She turns away with a blush.

He gets up and goes over to the table where they sat their stuff at. She follows suit.

After wiping himself off, he looks at her.

She sits there very prim and proper.

'I can't believe that I am spending time with her like this.'

He starts thinking about the outfits that he has seen her in.

"You must have gone through a lot just to come see me."

She looks at him sadly.

"Under . . . statement."

He takes a gulp and then slowly puts a hand on top of hers.

"I am really happy that you came here. I wouldn't have wanted anyone else here."

She lights up like a Christmas tree with happiness and a genuine smiles beams from ear to ear on her face.

"Why don't we swim a little bit longer and then go enjoy the hot springs bath attached to our room?"

She nods happily in agreement.

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They enter into their room.

"You . . . go . . . in . . . first."

"Umm. Okay."

He slides open the door from his room that leads into the private hot springs bath associated with their room. He closes it after he walks out. He sees the steam rising from an 8 ft. diameter bath.

He rubs his chin while he looks at the bath.

'Interesting. The bath has an outward appearance of a typical hot springs mixed with zen décor, but I can see some of the intricacies of the piping and built up walls of the bath.' He muses.

He sets his robe off to the side along with his shorts and slowly gets in. The heat instantly starts bringing relief to his muscles. He sits in the bath and leans against the wall. Only his head and part of his chest are exposed above the water level.

He leans his head back and shuts his eyes while he takes in the comfort of the bath.

A few moments later he hears the door slide open.

He lifts his head up and opens his eyes to see Shigure walking in. She is tightly holding her robe closed.

"Oh. I didn't know you were coming in so soon. Maybe I should get out and let you in."

She looks him in the eye.

"No. . . You stay."

'Why are her cheeks flushed?'

She undoes the belt on her robe, but holds it closed for a moment longer.

She lets out a sigh.

'Being naked would actually be easier than this.' She thinks to herself.

She slowly opens her robe and he goes bug-eyed as the rest of her gets revealed.

She is wearing a very revealing purple bikini.

She slowly steps into the bath, but she shyly averts her eyes from his. She makes sure that he gets a good view of her butt though.

"I . . . wanted . . to. . . wear this . . . for . . you."

He takes a big gulp.

"Wow."

After saying that his mouth still stays slightly open.

"Bugs . . .might . . get in . . if . . . you leave . . that open."

He shuts his mouth after he realizes that it's open.

She smirks from his reaction.

She settles into the bath and sits across from him.

"Why?"

She tilts her head slightly and gives him a confused look.

"Why are you interested in someone like me? You are my master and I am your disciple. You're so beautiful that you could probably be with any man that you want. I am younger than you. I am also so much weaker than you. I should be able to protect the person I'm with. I couldn't even protect Miu. Everyone is always saying how weak I am and that I have no talent, so how could I protect a master like you if I am nowhere near your level?"

The water swishes vigorously as she shoots forward, toward him.

In the very next moment, his lips are met with hers and she is straddling him. Her arms are wrapped his neck in an embrace. Her chest, pressing against his.

His heart stays racing, but the chaos of thoughts running through his head calms as her soft lips press against his.

He returns her embrace with his as he wraps his arms around and placing his hands along her back.

Another moment passes as he kisses the woman that he has been secretly falling for, and his heart starts to calm as well.

Breathing heavily, she pulls away from the kiss and looks into his eyes. Their faces within an inch of each other's.

"I . . . . I . . . . I love you Kenichi. You're not just my disciple. You can't be just my disciple when I love you this much. You're kind, caring, honest, and you put your heart into the things that you do. I love those traits about you." She says with tear filled eyes.

She starts shaking her head.

"I don't care if you are weaker than me right now. My love for you is all that matters. If being as strong as me bothers you that much, then get stronger, but don't deny me just because of that."

He is furiously blushing at this point while he stares into her eyes.

"Shigure, there is no way that I could deny this. I can hear it in your voice and see it in your eyes that this is truly how you feel. I love you too Shigure."

He gives her a heartfelt kiss.

She grinds against him as they both pull each other in closer.

When they break away from their kiss this time, she puts her mouth close to his ear.

"I do have a secret for you though." She whispers to him.

He gets a puzzled look on his face.

"What is that?"

"If you were really weak, then you wouldn't have lasted as long as you have at the dojo. You've only been told that so that you don't get a big head. I bet that you could become a master yourself if you train hard enough."

She pulls back again so she could see his surprised face.

She puts a finger to her mouth and makes a shushing motion.

"Thank you shigure."

She rewards him with a smile.

'I think I should tell him the other thing now since he accepted my love.'

"Your mom also said something else to me when she dropped me off."

"Ut oh. What did she say?" He asks with a worried look on his face.

"She told me to go get my fience and she called herself a nakodo."

"OH MY GOD! She didn't?"

"What did she do?"

"Did she have tea with you?"

She nods.

"Did she ask you lots of questions about me?"

She nods.

"That explains everything she did. She had an omiai with you. That also explains all of the shopping she did with you. She was arranging a marriage between us. What am I going to do with her? Oh man."

She starts untying the lower string on the back of her bikini.

"Would being engaged to me . . "

She then unties the strings around her neck.

"Really be that bad?"

She pulls her bikini top away and exposes her well-rounded breasts to him, and then she wraps her arms around his neck again.

She could feel him instantly get aroused under her.

'Her sword skill might be slightly hazardous to my health, but . . '

"No, no it wouldn't" He says with a smile.

"Then I have two requests if we are going to continue forward with our relationship."

"What is that?"

"You need to get over your stance on not fighting women, and I want you to learn some fighting skills with weapons."

"That's a tall order."

"I know it is, but if you can agree, then we can continue this relationship and I also have a special surprise for you."

He takes a deep breath and then lets it out.

"Okay."

She smiles and then slowly gets out of the bath, very slowly. She makes sure to give him as much eye candy as she can.

"Let's wash up. You can go first." She says to him.

"Umm. Okay."

After rinsing himself off, lies on the bed in just his shorts as he waits for Shigure to finish up.

She comes out and she slowly approaches the bed while holding her robe closed.

"Kenichi."

"Yes Shigure?"

"Do you want dinner . . . a bath . . . or . . . me?"

He blushes furiously at the thought.

"Where on earth did you get that from?"

"From one of your books."

He smacks his head.

"Oh my god!" He says while shaking his head.

She lets go of her robe and it opens up to reveal that she is completely naked.

"Isn't that what couples do?"

She starts climbing on the bed and walks over top of him on all fours like a cat.

"So which is it Kenichi?"

"You're very serious about this aren't you?"

He gets his response with a nod as she straddles him.

"I'm just hungry."

She looks puzzled for a moment, but then she starts to move to get up.

He quickly grabs her hand and pulls her close.

"For you."

She smiles.

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In accordance with FF dot net's guidelines, the lemon scene for this chapter will not be posted on this site, but it will be posted on adult – fanfiction dot o r g.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading another chapter of my story.

My 'Monster Musume: Drago's Quest' story is up to chapter 2

My 'Familiar Of Zero: Saving Grace' story is up to Chapter 38


	8. Chapter 8: It Gets Better

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

I do not own Kenichi.

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter. I am still only updating about once a month. My main focus is still on my Familiar Of Zero story.

I am sooooooo sorry that this update took so long. I have been pumping out bigger chapters for my other story and then there were also finals that got in the way.

Thank to everyone that has been reading my story and to everyone that has left me reviews.

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Chapter 8

It Gets Better

Kenichi wakes up and sees Shigure walk out of the bathroom. She is only wearing her robe. It isn't tied at all and is just hanging open. Her front side is revealed nicely to him as it dangles down either side of her breasts.

She gets a small smile when she notices that he is awake and she sits on the side of the bed. As she leans over to kiss him, the tips of her breasts touch his chest. Their mouths accept each other for a short while as they express their love for one another.

They . . . . separate eventually.

"Breakfast?" She asks.

"That sounds like a great idea. There was a little eatery downstairs where we can eat."

She nods to him.

He takes one last good look at her before they decide to get dressed.

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After eating a simple breakfast of fish and rice with raw egg, the duo returned to their room.

"I have to figure out what to do about Ryozanpaku."

Shigure looks at the floor and gets a worried look on her face.

"I need to figure out if I still want to train there."

"If . . . you don't want to . . . . . then you don't have to. We . . . . . could leave Ryozanpaku and go off to train on our own."

'I would certainly learn a lot from her that way. Of course, that could also end up being quite the terrifying experience as well.'

'Should I tell him about Yomi and Yami? Will he decide not to stay with me thought if I tell him? I did tell his mother that I would tell him.' She fidgets in the chair that she sat in while thinking this.

"I'm not sure though. I am really torn. I have learned a lot from the other masters there. But I am also still very angry at how I was being played."

He notices all of the awkward fidgeting she was doing.

"Is something else the matter, Shigure? You seem awfully uneasy."

She lets out a sigh and clasps her hands together.

"I need to let you know about something before you make your decision about Ryozanpaku."

Now he gets a worried look on his face.

"What else is there that I need to know?"

She purses her lips for a moment.

'I really am worried now. I have never seen her act like this about anything.'

"If . . . . If you stay with Ryozanpaku, then you could end up putting your life in real danger."

He slowly turns his head towards her as he processes what she said to him.

"What?" He asks while still trying to process the information.

"Remember how you were told that as you get stronger tougher and tougher opponents will come after you?"

He nods his head.

"There is a rival group that consists of Yomi and Yami. They may come after you when they learn of our strongest disciple. Their tactics are not very honorable and are underhanded. We haven't heard from them in a long time, but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't start showing their face again."

He takes a big gulp and his mind begins to race with fear. His instincts kick into overdrive and all his mind starts telling him is to run away.

Shigure can see this going on through his body language.

"So, your saying that I could end up having to fight this dangerous rival group's disciples if I keep training at Ryozanpaku?"

She nods.

"I could still end up facing these groups even if I only train with you, couldn't I.

He could feel the tension emanating from her as she stiffens up.

'This is the situation that his mother mentioned. I could lose him because of this, but he has to know. I can't deceive him like he was before by the others. '

"Yes." She says while nodding.

He takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it out. Then he runs both of his hands through his hair.

'Oh man! What the hell am I going to do? I don't want to face these groups. I could easily avoid Ryozanpaku, but I can't just do that to Shigure.'

He gets off of the bed and starts pacing around the room.

She closes her eyes to try to calm herself while in her chair.

He catches her doing this and stops his pacing and kneels in front of her.

"Keep your eyes closed Shigure." He says calmly.

She nods.

He takes in a deep breath and then lets it out.

Then he also closes his eyes.

"This situation is terrifying, knowing that there is a rival group of strong masters that might want my head if I continue on the path that I am treading. At the same time, I don't want to lose you after getting you. I also have other issues to think of. I also have Ragnarok coming after me right now."

He takes another deep breath and Shigure shifts from her chair, to the floor without even opening her eyes. They are sitting right across from one another in seiza position.

"I could run away from all of this. If I ran away, then I wouldn't have to deal with any of this anymore. I wouldn't have to deal with everything that happened at Ryozanpaku. I wouldn't have to deal with Ragnarok, Yomi or Yami. I could leave all of this chaos behind."

Shigure's heart skips a beat as she hears him say all of this.

"But that would go against everything that I have been trying to accomplish, and it would go against everything that makes me . . . .me. I started training because I don't want to run away, and I want to be able to protect the people I love. I can't let Ragnarok keep bullying people. They've even threatened Takeda's life. They will still go after him even if I leave, and I want to be able to protect him when they do. I am going to still keep training at Ryozanpaku. I will still have to deal with my problems there. I am especially not going to leave you. And if things get to shaky at Ryozanpaku, then I will just take off somewhere with you." He ends that statement with a little smirk.

He starts to open his eyes and gets startled when he sees Shigure's face is right in front of his.

"That's my Kenichi." She says with a smirk as well.

"Your Kenichi?"

She nods and then gives him a soft kiss.

"I am glad that you are going to be there with me Shigure. Having you there, by my side, is going to make things easier to handle at Ryozanpaku."

She gets a proud look on her face and strikes a pose.

"I will protect you Kenichi."

He laughs after she does this, but then he points a finger at her.

"And one day, I will be able to say that to you, Shigure."

"So, what else are we doing?" She asks him.

He gets a disappointed look on his face.

"Well, I would say that we could go to this movie that I had tickets for, but I had thrown them out."

She gets up and goes over to her bag. After a tiny bit of digging, she finds what she is looking for and pulls it out.

"Do you mean these? Your mom gave me these while we were shopping and said that you might want these."

He puts a hand over his face.

'Mom!'

"Well, let's not waste any time then.

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While on the train.

A man eyes up Shigure and starts inching closer to her. As he gets closer, he starts to reach for her butt to grope her.

She quickly turns, smacks his hand away, and then holds a shuriken up to his neck.

She looks blankly into his eyes.

"Don't."

After scolding himself for not noticing it right away, Kenichi looks at the pervert.

"I think that it might be in your health's interest that you back away."

The pervert then looks at Shigure.

"You're with him?"

She looks into his eyes with a stare that sends shivers down his spine.

"Yes . . . . Problem?"

He shakes his head and backs away after nearly peeing his pants.

"Umm, Shigure, where were you hiding that? On second thought, I don't think that I want to know."

The rest of the passengers take note to leave her alone.

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The duo eventually make it to the movie theatre without any more problems.

The whole time that they were getting their snacks and settling in, Shigure kept looking around at everything in awe.

"You have been to a movie theatre, haven't you?" He asks as they sit down.

She looks at him.

"No."

He starts imagining what a movie night would be like at Ryozanpaku. He pictures Grandfather or Akisame pulling out an old reel projector and watching old black and white films.

He covers his face and shakes his head.

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Along their walk to Ryozanpaku.

"I would have used a chainsickle in that one scene."

"I am sure you would have. You would have swept the floor with them Shigure."

She links her arm with his.

"Are you sure that you're ready to go back?"

"I am as ready as I can be."

He gives her a sideways glance.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you look in that dress?"

"The look on your face when you first saw me in this dress said it all.

He starts opening the door to Ryozanpaku and they both start laughing at what she said.

As they enter in, they are met with the sight of everyone from Ryozanpaku.

Miu was sweeping the pathway, and she freezes from the sight of them. She stares as she sees not only Shigure in a dress, but linked arm in arm with Kenichi. Plus, there was the fact that Shigure was also laughing whole-heartedly.

Sakaki drops his bottle of beer.

'I suspected something when I noticed her walk around and then leave, but no amount of preparation could ever prepare me for this sight.' He thinks.

Akisame quirks an eyebrow and starts rubbing his chin.

"So, she really did go to him, but I was not expecting this. What happened over the past day between these two?"

Apachai runs over to them with his arms way up in the air.

"Apaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Shigure came back with Kenichi!"

He picks up Kenichi and bear hugs him while swaying back and forth.

"It's . . . . . good . . . to . . . . see . . . you . . . . .too. . . . . . but . . . need . . . . air." Kenichi struggles to get out."

"Apachai so happy to see Kenichi. Thought you not come back!"

He manages to put him back down without any broken bones, then he stares at Shigure.

"Shigure wearing pretty dress."

She awkwardly blushes and even fidgets a little while still linked with her Kenichi.

Then she hears a familiar clicking sound and pulls a shuriken out of nowhere again and throws it at the bushes.

Kensei jumps out while holding his camera and smirking.

Kenichi puts his hand over his face.

'Always the opportunist.'

"Well, this is certainly interesting." Kensei says while backing away.

Grandfather stands at the door of the dojo with an amused look on his face.

The Karate master recovers from his shock and walks up to the duet after recovering his beer.

"So, you came back, kid."

The disciple nods to his master.

"Yes. I came back." He says confidently.

Then Sakaki crosses his arms.

"Alright. Now I am going to cut to the chase. What happened with you two?" He asks as bluntly as ever.

While scratching the back of his head, Kenichi blushes furiously.

Shigure pulls him closer into her, with his arm gripped against her chest. She looks at Sakaki, dead in the eye with her blank face.

"Fiance." She simply says.

Sakaki's jaw drops and he fumbles his beer again.

"Wh . . . wh . . . wh. . . "

"It's a long story." He says while interrupting his shell-shocked master.

Miu fumbles over herself as well after hearing that declaration.

"Kid, you are always full of surprises. It's good to have you back." Sakaki manages to get out after a few seconds.

Akisame cautiously walks up.

"Kenichi." He says in greeting to the young disciple.

"Akisame." Kenichi responds back with a serious look on his face.

The atmosphere becomes a little awkward around the growing group.

"Does this mean you are going to continue to train here?"

"Yes. I am going to continue training here, unless we can't handle it after everything that has happened. I am still upset about what happened but I want to try to work past it."

"That is fair, and admirable. And, for what it's worth, I am sorry Kenichi."

"Thank you for your apology, Master Akisame"

Akisame turns his attention to Shigure.

"I would love to hear how this happened."

She blushes again.

"Welcome back Kenichi." Says a voice that instantly causes a change in Kenichi's demeanor.

He tries to break away but Shigure tightens her grip on him in worry.

They look each other in the eye, and he could tell from her look that she wanted to know if he is going to be okay.

He gives her a calm look at her and pats her hand.

"It'll be okay. I need to do this."

With a nod in acknowledgement, she lets go of him.

He walks past Sakaki and Akisame, then past Miu, and then right up to Hayato.

"I knew . . . . " Hayato starts to say.

"Don't you dare say that you knew I'd come back. I almost didn't. If it wasn't for Shigure being here with me, then I probably would not have."

Hayato starts stroking his beard.

"Very well, then I won't."

"You still owe me some explanations. I am not thrilled with what happened and you have not spoken a word to me at all since I found out. I find that kind of rude. Don't you think so?"

"You are right, Kenichi, I haven't said a word to you since you found out."

An involuntary twitch happens in Kenichi's eye.

"So. That's all you have to say in response? How about a real explanation? I'm not sure if I buy the story that I heard. I am not convinced that you were having her lie to me just because you didn't think that I could handle the truth."

Sakaki's eyes narrow as he listens to his disciple's rant.

'Where is that kid going with this.'

Everyone else listens to the conversation intently.

Hayato quirks an eyebrow as well.

"Was there something more to all of this? I need an answer. Was it because you need the money I am giving you guys that badly? I know that all of you do side jobs, but does it really keep paying the bills for this huge place? Or is there something more? Is there a bigger plan that you devised that not even Miu knows about?"

Grandfather's stoic posture starts to falter as Kenichi continues on.

"I am called your number one disciple, but you and I both know that I am not! Miu is!"

Miu and the others get a surprised look on their faces with his declaration.

"She is the number one here, and not me. She is so much more skilled and stronger than me. Why me? Am I supposed to be some kind of distraction to keep attention away from her? Am I here to get stronger to help keep her safe? Or were you hoping that her and I would develop a relationship over time and have a strong child to keep the martial arts line going? Or were you hoping that I would always be around to help protect her from Yomi and Yami!"

Everyone stares at him bug-eyed as soon as he mentions Yomi then they stare at Shigure.

She stands there stoically, even though she is a little surprised as well.

"Alright, Kenichi, that is enough." Is said to Kenichi in a very serious tone.

"No, it's not enough."

"Yes, it is Kenichi!"

The heightened tone in grandfather's voice startles the other masters and makes them start wondering about everything that he said.

"I will give you the answers you seek. You have made a lot of accusations, but the answers are long and delicate. Let us eat dinner. It is almost that time."

Kenichi gives him a skeptical look.

"I promise, Kenichi."

"Alright." He says a little more calmly to Hayato.

Shigure walks past everyone to back by Kenichi's side. As she walks past Miu, she gives her a glance that tells her that she is still upset over what she did to Kenichi.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading another chapter of my story.

My 'Monster Musume: Drago's Quest' story is up to chapter 3

My 'Familiar Of Zero: Saving Grace' story is up to Chapter 44


	9. Chapter 9: Readjustment

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

I do not own Kenichi.

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter. I can't believe how long it has been since my last update. I had no intention of waiting this long to update.

Thank to everyone that has been reading my story and to everyone that has left me reviews.

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Chapter 9

Readjustment

Everyone is sitting at the dinner table in their usual spots. Shigure made sure to stay a little extra close to Kenichi. Shigure was also back into her normal attire.

Sakaki was drinking quite merrily with Kenichi back and he was even breaking into moments of laughter.

Apachai had a great big smile on his face the whole time and kept talking about how he couldn't wait to start advanced training with Kenichi.

"Kenichi, not that I am trying to sway your decision, but are you sure that you want to start the advanced technique training?" Asks Akisame.

Kenichi looks at him seriously.

"Yes. I need to do this."

The tone in his voice tells Akisame and the others how serious he is about it.

"Shortly after dinner, . . . . we train . . . . to break . . . your rule."

Gloom comes over Kenichi and he very slowly turns his head to Shigure.

"After . . . dinner?" He says with a lot of nervousness.

She nods.

"But we don't usually train after dinner."

"You're . . . serious, . . . .aren't . . . you?"

He nods his head with tears starting to well up in his eyes in expectation of how his night is going to go.

"Break what rule?" asks Kensei.

"For not hitting girls." Kenichi simply says to them.

Miu angrily looks over at Shigure.

"But that is what makes Kenichi. That is one of his convictions! Why are you trying to change him?"

"It's flawed." Retorts Shigure.

Miu grits her teeth.

'How dare she try to change Kenichi like that. Just because they are together now, doesn't give her the right to change him like that.' Miu think angrily to herself.

Kensei decides to jump into the conversation.

"I am actually not against this. There are quite a number of female martial artists out there. Not fighting them simply because they are women would be an injustice. But, are you sure that this is what you want, Kenichi?"

He nods.

"I have committed to that as well. I gave it a lot of thought, and you are right. It would be unfair to them as martial artists. He looks at Shigure. They took the time to learn their techniques, then it is only fair that I respect that hard work."

Shigure looks at him proudly.

Ma does as well while he thinks about Renka.

Miu grumbles over it lightly.

"I don't know why you seem so upset about that, Miu. I figured that you would have been happy about that declaration."

She doesn't really give him a response back and just goes back to eating.

Every so often, Miu glances over at Kenichi and Shigure and gets an annoyed look on her face. This doesn't go unnoticed by Shigure.

'Is she . . . jealous?' Shigure wonders.

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After dinner, Kenichi and Shigure had stepped outside for a brief moment.

"Before we train, it's time for me to talk to Hayato."

She nods to him.

"I will see you in the dojo afterwards?" She asks and states at the same time.

He gives her a nod in response.

He starts to turn away, but he gets stopped by her.

As he turns back to face her, she grabs his shirt and pulls him close. She gives him a kiss and then releases.

"Good luck." She says and then walks away.

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After knocking on grandfather's door and getting permission to enter, Kenichi goes in and sits across from him.

"I am not going to beat around the bush. I have a lot to do and no time to waste. You know why I am here."

"Yes, Kenichi, I know why you are here. I did promise that I would talk to you about this."

"Yes, you did."

They both have serious looks on their faces.

"Why? Why did you have Miu purposely deceive me like that?"

"I am not going to say that everything that you said had no truth, but I am also not going to say that everything was true."

"So what is it then?" Kenichi says frustratingly.

"When you came to this dojo, a great many things came to mind. I saw how you cared for my granddaughter, and I saw how far you were willing to go to get stronger. After seeing that, many of things that you mentioned did go through my mind. I want the line of martial artists to keep going. Your money has been helpful to us. It has been a major help to us financially."

'It's not like any of them have a steady job.' Kenichi thinks to himself.

"What about Miu? Did you really think that I was so fragile that I would break without her?"

"I wasn't sure. You were quite fixated on her. I knew that she was one of the main reasons why you have been able to muster through our rigorous training here at the dojo. We all saw the differences in the feelings between you two though. We saw how you felt about her, but we also saw how she felt about you."

Kenichi sighs.

'I guess that explains all of the comments that everyone made while we were at the island.' He sadly thinks.

"So why did you resort to the lies?"

"I suppose that the thought did cross my mind that perhaps she might change her feelings towards you. But, I am not going to lie to you. I wanted you here as a distraction and a protector."

Narrowing his eyes, Kenichi gets an even more serious look on his face.

"Why?" He asks Hayato angrily.

"There is another secret. One that we have been keeping from Miu herself."

"More lies?" Kenichi also says angrily.

"Her father is part of Yami and he killed her mother."

Kenichi's eyes go wide in shock.

"I didn't want her knowing about her father and I wanted to lead her down the right path of the Katsujinken, the saving fist. Her father had once fallowed this path, but then he had fallen from it."

"So you WERE just using me this whole time?"

With a nod, Kenichi is given his answer.

"When were you going to tell her? When were you going to tell me? This isn't just some simple matter. You are talking about a group of deadly martial artists that Miu's father is a part of. You knew that this group is out there. You knew that they could come out of hiding again to come after me or her and told neither of us. When were you going to tell us, when it was too late?"

"I am sorry, Kenichi."

"That was kind of a half-hearted apology. How can you talk about the Katsuhinken when there are all these lies?"

"That's being rather rude, Kenichi."

Kenichi stands up and glares at Hayato.

"This is coming from the man that resorts to lies and trickery. I've had enough of this tonight." Kenichi gets up and heads for the door while saying this.

Then he looks back at grandfather.

"You need to talk to her about this. No more lies. Would you rather she learns about it from you, or on her own?"

He leaves the room.

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Along her walk to the dojo, Shigure comes across Miu.

She starts to walk past her.

"Tch." Miu snidely makes.

Shigure stops and stares at Miu.

"What?" Shigure asks.

"Why are you doing this, Shigure?"

Shigure cants her head to the side and gives her a confused look.

"Why are you acting so lovey -dovey with him and saying that you are engaged." Reiterates Miu.

"I do . . love him, . . and . . . we ARE engaged."

"That can't be! You have to just be using him. You haven't even showed signs of loving him."

After thinking about everything that she had gone through to go be with him, Shigure narrows her eyes in annoyance.

"Haven't I? . . . . Don't be jealous."

Miu steams with anger.

"I am not!"

"You stared during dinner. . . . You're used to him . . . . fawning . . . . over you, . . and now . . . he's not."

This makes Miu stop in her tracks for a moment.

Shigure begins to turn away, but Miu regains herself and continues her argument.

"Why are you trying to change Kenichi?"

She turns back to Miu.

"Not change . . . make better."

Miu grits her teeth.

"He must . . . get over . . . those hurdles."

Wanting to quickly end this stupid argument so that she can get to the dojo, Shigure briskly turns and begins walking away.

"How dare you take my Kenichi, Shigure!"

This causes Shigure to stop in her tracks. Before Miu even realizes it, Shigure is right in front of her. She is within a couple inches of Miu and glaring at her.

"He's mine – not yours. We claimed each other." She says seriously and softly to Miu.

Miu processes this for a moment as to what she could mean by claimed.

"You didn't?" Miu asks.

Shigure gives her a nod and her mouth drops open.

"You can still be his friend if he so chooses. But, if you can't handle him and I being together, then back off. We don't need your childish and jealous antics."

Shigure walks away, leaving a very stunned and confused Miu.

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In the dojo.

Kenichi stands in front of Shigure, whom is holding a tightly rolled up paper. Behind her are several other weapons that have been laid out. Among those weapons are a shinai, a bokken, and her katana.

Kenichi looks at her nervously.

All of the other masters are around the dojo, waiting to see how this is going to turn out. Grandfather is not present. Miu cautiously stands just outside of the doorway.

"Kenichi." Shigure says to him to get his attention.

He looks away from all of the weapons and looks at his fiancé.

'This is the scary side of her. She is in her master mode. I hope I don't die from this.' He thinks to himself.

The other masters also have similar thoughts on whether he is going to live through this as well.

She holds the paper up.

"I am going to start with this. If you start trying to hit me, then this will be all that you have to deal with."

"But, what I don't?" He hesitantly asks.

"If you cannot satisfactory perform, then I will step up the intensity by switching weapons."

He takes a big gulp.

'I am going to die!' He screams in his head.

"Hey, Shigure!" Sakaki shouts out to her.

She looks over to him.

"Yes?"

He takes a swig of a beer.

"Just remember not to go too easy on him just because he is your fiancé."

With a look of despair and shock, Kenichi turns his head to Sakaki with his jaw dropped.

'Thanks a lot.' Kenichi inwardly thinks.

Shigure turns her head back to Kenichi and takes a fighting stance.

He does the same.

She charges in for the attack.

While he blocks her hand away, she gives him a perfect opportunity to attack her stomach, but he holds back.

She quickens her pace and smacks him in the head with the paper.

While Shigure resets her stance, Sakaki shakes his head.

"You should have taken that opportunity, kid."

Kenichi grits his teeth.

'I can't do it.' Kenichi tells himself.

"You can do it, Kenichi. You just have to put your mind to it." Says Akisame.

'He did that mind thing again.'

"Shigure is not going to let up until you do." Kensei says to him while he strokes his mustache.

Kenichi sighs, and then they go at it again.

'This is going to serve a double purpose for him. I knew he was just going to start with blocking. So, he is first going to learn to defend himself against people with these kinds of weapons. Then he will break this rule about not fighting girls.' Muses Shigure.

As this carries on, Kenichi begins to develop a pattern of blocking. She changes it up and starts using different tactics.

Every time he doesn't take an opportunity, she smacks him with the paper. She also increases how hard she hits as well.

Eventually, the paper becomes useless.

"Hmph." She says while looking at the limp paper.

She tosses it aside and picks up the shinai.

'Crap!'

She begins her assault again.

She swings at his left side.

In a defensive motion, he raises his left arm up to fully accept the hit.

He takes the hit and she gives him another opportunity to attack her.

He holds back again.

While pursing her lips, she trips him with the shinai. Then she makes a downward strike at his head. She stops within an inch of hitting it.

"You're dead." She says to him.

He sighs and then gets back up.

'Maybe I'll just try to at least touch her. If I do that, then maybe she'll back off.' He thinks to himself.

She launches at him again.

She swings at his left side again, but this time he ducks under it.

She gives him the opportunity just like she did before. She gets surprised when she finally sees his arm moving toward her.

Sakaki quirks an eyebrow and he sees this movement.

Kensei and Akisame shake their heads. They both instantly recognize what he is trying to do.

'This is just like his practices with Miu.' Akisame thinks.

The disappointed look on Shigure's face says it all as he just touches her stomach.

She slaps his hand away angrily and gets back into a fighting stance.

She starts her attacks again. This time, her movements are swifter, and she starts smacking him along other areas of his body.

The sting from each hit causes him to rub at each area after a hit.

He keeps this up for a short while.

After getting frustrated, she switched to the bokken.

He tries to switch his tactics again, but she sees right through his jujitsu stances.

Numerous attempts are made to pin and throw her to no avail.

Welts begin forming on his body from all of the hits that he has taken.

'Please, Kenichi, I don't know how much more of this I can take doing.' She pleads in her head.

After a little bit longer, she switches to her sheathed sword.

Kenichi was showing sign of getting quite warn out, and is holding one of his shoulders.

"Again!" She shouts at him.

Miu tugs on Sakaki's shirt in worry.

"Shigure?" Sakaki he says in a questioning manner.

She doesn't even look at him. She only looks at Kenichi.

"Say nothing." She orders Sakaki in response

'He needs this. A man will do what he needs to do when he is pushed to his limits. Kenichi is almost there. Will he prevail, or will he break?' Shigure ponders.

She continues again.

After some time, Kenichi is barely managing to hold himself up. His entire body hurts and he spits out a small amount of blood. He breaths heavily. Sweat pours off of him. Thoughts run back and forth in his head about what is trying to be accomplished.

She unsheathes her sword.

The site of it terrifies him.

"Focus, Kenichi." She tells him.

He shakes his head and brings his attention back to her.

"Are you still going to dishonor me like this?"

'Dishonor.' He repeats to himself.

"Fight back, Kenichi, or this could kill you."

She gets into her fighting stance again.

Apachai covers his eyes.

Kenichi's heart skips a beat as he stares at Shigure's sword.

She darts toward him.

"No." Kenichi softly says.

His warn out body kicks into fight or flight mode. His eyes go blank.

With a shift to the side, he moves his head out of the path of the blade. He crouches down slightly and sends a punch into Shigure's stomach.

The punch wasn't very strong considering his physical state (and the fact the he punched one of his masters), but he punched her never the less.

Everything finally catches up to him and he drops to his knees.

Shigure quickly sheathes her sword and kneels down in front of him.

He comes back to his senses and finds that he is being embraced by Shigure in a hug.

"You . . . did good." She says to him.

He lets out another hefty sigh.

She hefts him up and onto her back.

"Where are we going?" He tiredly asks.

"The bath."

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The following morning.

Miu had made breakfast and was getting the table ready.

She gives Kenichi a slightly bigger portion after everything he had gone through the night before.

Everyone starts gathering for breakfast.

"Hey! Where's Kenichi?" Asks Sakaki.

Miu looks over at him and shakes her head.

"Maybe he is having a hard time this morning after last night's ordeal. I'll go look for him." She replies.

She quickly walks off to check on him.

She gets to his room and she starts to slide his door open.

"Hey Kenichiiiiiii, it's time for break . . . fas . . . . t." The end of her sentences slows down because of the sight that she sees.

Her mouth drops open and she goes bug-eyed in shock.

"You . . . should knock . . . .next time." Shigure calmly says to her.

Miu simply nods and slowly slides his door shut.

Sakaki looks at her as she comes back to the table.

"Is he coming?" asks Sakaki.

She closes her eyes and smiles really big.

He gets a confused look as he looks at her odd behavior.

"Oh, yes. He will be coming in a couple of minutes."

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading another chapter of my story.

My 'Monster Musume: Drago's Quest' story is up to chapter 4 - Complete

My 'Familiar Of Zero: Saving Grace' story is up to Chapter 59


	10. Chapter 10: Back To Training

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

I do not own Kenichi.

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter. I can't believe how long it has been since my last update. I had no intention of waiting this long to update.

There are some scenes that occur in this story that occurred in the anime as well. So, I will only mention them to let you know that they occurred. The episodes that the scenes came from are episodes 19 and 20 of the anime.

Thank to everyone that has been reading my story and to everyone that has left me reviews.

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Chapter 10

Back To Training

His walk home from school that day started off rather quiet. He was walking home from school with Miu but neither of them have spoke.

'I knew the walk was probably going to be quiet, but this is a little awkward even for my taste. Maybe I should have just walked home by myself like I was originally thinking. Heck, even walking on the other side of the street would be better than this right now.' Thinks Kenichi.

He gets a small smile on his face as he thinks about Shigure.

'It would have been nice to walk home with her, especially after this morning. I am still pretty embarrassed about Miu walking in on us though.' He also thinks.

'It's taken me all day to try and shake the image of seeing him and Shigure together this morning. I need to try and talk to him seriously now though. This might be one of my best chances to talk with him. I had a lot of time to think about everything and I need to talk to him. I don't think that he would have walked home with me if he still wasn't willing to be around me. I hope.'

Miu stops walking and gently grabs onto Kenichi's arm to stop him as well.

"Kenichi, can we talk?"

He lets out a hefty sigh as he looks back at her.

'I knew this was coming. I've been trying to figure out what to say to her, but no amount of preparation seemed to really get me ready for the actual conversation.'

"Alright. We have to do this sometime."

"Thanks, Kenichi."

They both lean against a wall.

The nervousness she was feeling could easily be seen by the fact that she was sweating.

"I know that it might not mean much, but I want to start off by saying sorry."

He looks at her while shaking his head.

"You're wrong. Saying sorry means a lot and it is a great way to start things off. I actually believe that you are sorry."

A smile makes its way to her face.

"You do?" She says gleefully.

He nods.

"If you didn't, then you wouldn't have even approached grandfather to tell him that you didn't want to deceive me anymore."

She gives a nod back this time.

While holding up an index finger, he closes his eyes and sternly adds on to his last statement.

"Don't get me wrong. I am still angry over the fact that it did occur."

"I understand." She replies back with a hint of sadness.

After looking down for a moment in guilt, she looks back up at him and tries to continue the conversation.

"I would be pretty upset if that was done to me too."

"Your grandfather would probably scare whoever did it to death."

He imagines grandfather towering over some guy with his eyes glowing.

"After everything that has happened, do you think that there is any chance that we can go back to being friends?" Miu asks him with a very heavy heart.

As he crosses his arms, he begins thinking about his response. While he does this, she continues talking.

"I really did enjoy being your friend, Kenichi. I hope you can believe me."

He thinks back to when he first met her and she acted towards him.

Then he scratches the back of his head.

"There is no way that we can go back to exactly how things used to be. I am not the kind of person that likes to be angry or to carry a grudge either."

"You are very kind, Kenichi."

"Let's start over being friends again. Just be truthful with me from now on."

"Deal." She happily says back to him.

They both start to walk again, but she gives him another curious look.

"Hey, Kenichi?" She says to him to get his attention again.

"Yeah?"

"When you came back yesterday, you said a lot to my grandfather. The was a lot you said in reference to me."

He takes a big gulp as he not only remembers saying that stuff, but also all of the stuff her grandfather said.

"Yes."

"What did you mean by all of that?"

"All I can say, is that that is something you should ask your grandfather. I want to tell you, but you should hear it from him. He has something very important to discuss with you."

She nods in acceptance even though she is still confused.

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After walking some more, they run into Niijima. Niijima tells them not to go down the street that they were walking down because Tsuji and two of his men were down that way. Niijima also told them that Tsuji was pretty mad after hearing some lies that was put in the school paper that he had put out.

Kenichi went down the street anyways to try to sort things out with the long-haired foe with the blue trench coat. Tsuji didn't want to hear it, and so they ended up fighting again. After two hits, Tsuji was knocked out.

Miu told Kenichi that that was the reason why the masters wanted to teach him advanced techniques in the first place. She told him that he had improved and that he knew how to take what he learned and put it into practical use.

After waking up, Tsuji accepted his defeat and told his two men to leave him. Just as he was about to walk away, Kenichi told him not to get rid of the two guys because they were real friends to him. That is when Tsuji decided that he was also going to break away from Ragnarok and start a new gang with hid two friends.

Just as he was about to walk away from Kenichi and Miu, he looks back to them.

"Hey, Kenichi!"

" is it?" Asks Kenichi.

Tsuji holds up a finger.

"That friend of yours. The boxer. I heard that Ragnarok is giving him a farewell beat down real soon."

Kenichi's eyes go wide.

"But when?" Kenichi asks worriedly.

"I don't know the exact date, but Kisara will be there along with a witness from the eight deadly fists."

"One of the eight deadly fists! But who?"

"The sixth fist. The guy who is also known as hermit. I'd watch out for him. He is bad news.I'll see you around kid."

Tsuji goes to turn around and walk away.

While balling up his fist, Kenichi balls up his fist. Then he looks back at Miu for a moment, whom looks back at him in wonder of what's going on in his head.

'I can't let that happen. I swore I would protect him.'

"Tsuji!"

His foe looks back at him again.

"What do you want, Kenichi? I have a lot of other things to deal with now."

Tsuji could tell that whatever the disciple of Ryozanpaku had on his mind, he was serious about. Kenichi's face looked serious and determined.

"I want you to get a message back to Kisara."

"What kind of message?"

"She told me that if I defeat her in a fight, that she would think about not going after Takeda."

"So?"

"So, I am issuing a challenge to her. I want to fight her."

This takes Tsuji and his men aback.

"What? Are you crazy?" He asks Kenichi.

Miu also looks at him in surprise.

'He really has changed. I never would have thought he would be the one asking for a fight, but it is also with a girl.' She thinks as she listens to him.

"No, Tsuji. I am dead serious about this. I want to put an end on this vendetta against Takeda. I will fight her on Friday, at her place of choosing."

"Alright. I can do that for you."

With a wave of a hand, Tsuji then walks away.

"I can't believe that you just did that." Miu says to him after Tsuji walks away.

Kenichi sweat drops.

"Kenichi?"

He then then turns back to her.

"I can't believe I did that either."

From a distance, a certain weapons master smirks after watching her fiance and then hops away to wait for him back at the dojo.

'He is really blossoming into a man now.' She muses.

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At Kenichi's house.

"So, you want to go see your brother at the Ryozanpaku dojo?" Saori asks Honoka.

Honoka nods while she has a big grin on her face.

"I also need to play Go with Apachai." She says playfully.

"How about we both go there together?"

Honoka blinks at her mom a couple of times and looks at her in puzzlement.

"You want to go there too?"

She smiles very motherly to her daughter and nods.

"I would like to see this place."

'Not to mention, I want to see how he is doing and how the other masters are treating him.' She thinks to herself.

"Sure thing mom!"

"Now, there is one thing that I need to tell you before we go though. . ."

Just as she says that, she hears commotion in the other room.

"Why don't you gather up your stuff first, and then I will talk to you along the way."

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In the other room.

"Maximillion, Sebastion; come to me!" Mototsugu Shirahama calls out.

Dashboards behind the walls light up. A painting and a scroll raise up. Arms extend out, and an elevator rises up and his two favorite guns, Sebatian and Maximillian, eject out from within the walls.

He puts Maximillian in a duffle bag that had some items in it along with some ammo. He puts Sebastian inside of his trench coat.

Saori's eye twitches.

"Honey, what are you doing?" She asks with her arms crossed.

He nervously looks at her.

"I have an emergency business duck hunt to go to."

Her annoyed look changes to surprise.

"At this time of evening?"

"The sport of the game holds no time boundaries."

"So, this isn't a ploy to follow me out to Kenichi's dojo?"

He shakes his head.

"I really want to do that, but this is a very important event that I cannot miss." He says while putting on his beret.

She narrows her eyes and looks at him curiously. Then she quickly pulls him by the collar and gives him a kiss.

"Then you be safe and come back as soon as you can. Don't make your wife worry by staying out too late.

Then he wraps his arm around her and kisses her back like the detectives do in old movies before they go to leave on a boat.

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At the dojo.

Shigure was sitting on top of the house with Tochumaru. She was about to jump down when she notices a familiar car pull nearby and park.

She jumps down and heads for the door when she sees Saori and Honoka get out of the car.

Honoka's mom was about to knock on the huge door when it suddenly opens.

After opening the door for them, Shigure bows to her.

"Well hello, Shigure. It is good to see you again."

She nods to Saori, whom is holding Kenichi's black book.

"I take it everything went well for you and my son?"

Shigure blushes and nods.

"Really . . . well."

While blushing from her own embarassment, Honoka gives a light tug on the sleeve of Shigure's kimono.

Shigure crouches down slightly while looking at her.

"This is still all a surprise to me, I am really happy for you and my big brother. I like you a lot more than big boobs."

Just as she says that, Honoka comes to a major realization.

'Wait! She has even bigger boobs than Miu.'

Her mother gives her a bonk on the head.

"Mind your manners, Honoka."

The young sibling bows her head to Shigure.

"I'm sorry."

Then Saori gives a nod to her.

Then Honoka looks up to her again.

"So, does this mean I can call you big sis?"

Shigure blushes and then vigorously nods to Kenichi's little sister.

Saori happily smiles as well and then looks at Shigure.

"I have told her about your engagement to Kenichi. Nothing more, and nothing less." She says to the weapons user.

'She didn't need to know about all of the other dirty details of the story.' Saori thinks to herself.

Shigure nods in understanding and then motions for them to come in and they all start walking.

Being the more talkative one, Honoka tells her mom about everything they they see as they walk along.

As they walk, the two older women hear a clicking sound. Shigure pulls a shuriken out of seemingly nowhere and throws it in the direction of the clicking.

"Taking pictures from within a bush is not a polite way to greet a guest." Saori says aloud.

Kensei pops out from some bushes with a defeated look on his face. The strap from his camera had been cut.

"My apologies." He says to her as he puts his camera behind his back.

"Are you up to your tricks again?" Honoka asks him with her hands on her hips.

"Just taking some pictures of the natural beauty of the surroundings. On a side note, it seems that we have another martial artist here."

Honoka looks at her mom after hearing Kensei say that and starts laughing.

"You're not talking about my mom, are you?"

"I am just a simple mother that wanted to check up on her son's environment."

He takes the hint and doesn't push the subject her being a martial artist any further. He does give her a curious look though as another question pops into his head.

'Based on her sentence, I wonder how much she knows about what has happened here.' Wonders the Chinese martial artist.

"Forgive me. My name is Kensei Ma."

"And I am Saori Shirahama."

"It is a pleasure to meet you. If you are looking for your son, then he is training with Sakaki in the dojo."

Saori bows to him.

"Thank you."

Shigure leads them to the dojo.

Kenichi was in the middle of using the first advanced technique that Sakaki was showing him.

He throws a punch at Kenichi. Kenichi, in turn, blocks the punch downward and then raises the wrist up of the same hand to strike at Sakaki's chin. Sakaki quickly stops the strike with two fingers.

He smiles at Kenichi.

"I think that you are ready, kid."

While panting heavily, Kenichi smiles back at his master.

Saori could see that her son was a little bit banged up from his training. She gets a small smile on her face as she looks at the two of them.

The disciple gets a very surprised look on his face when he looks over and sees his mom.

"Mom? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come check on you. I also wanted to give back your book. You forgot it at the house."

As she hands the book back to him, she makes brief eye contact with Miu. Saori's smile turns into a glare as she looks at Hayato's granddaughter, but then it quickly turns back into a smile.

Miu instantly becomes nervous as she comes to the realization that her glare probably means that she knows everything that happened.

Kenichi introduces her to the other masters.

Hayato had also shown up during this process. He could see right through Saori's fake smile to him, but he doesn't say anything in response.

She bows to them all.

"I am sorry for intruding on my son's training, but I was wondering if I could also borrow him for a few moments to talk to him?"

"That is quite all right, Miss Shirahama." Akisame chimes in.

Akisame then looks at Kenichi and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Just let me know when you are done. I will be training you next on the technique that I showed you earlier."

Kenichi gives him a nod

"Now, Honoka, why don't you go and see if Apachai wants to play with you while I talk to your brother."

Kenichi then walks off with his mom.

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Kenichi walks outside of the dojo with his mom and they go over to the pond with the bridge over it.

"So, what is this about, mom?"

"Well, it is about a lot. I am sure that you have a lot of questions for me as well."

He nods in agreement.

"To answer your first question, yes, I read the book."

He sighs.

"I figured that is how a lot of this came about."

She nods.

"It honestly fell open and I happened to read the page that was open. It concerned me enough to read more. I am sorry for invading your privacy. So, we can talk about that, your stay here, your engagement with Shigure, how we are going to get a proper engagement ring for her, and how I am a martial artist too."

His eyes go wide and he grabs his head.

"Engagement ring! And you are a martial artist?" he bursts out in a raised tone.

She smiles and nods.

His jaw drops.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading another chapter of my story.

While writing this chapter, I wanted to hint at something that I have felt for a long time. I always thought that Kenichi's dad had something more than just a simple desk job.

My 'Monster Musume: Drago's Quest' story is up to chapter 4 - Complete

My 'Familiar Of Zero: Saving Grace' story is up to Chapter 61


	11. Chapter 11: Fighting Girls

Kenichi: Not just her disciple

I do not own Kenichi.

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 **AN:** Hello readers. Thank you for waiting for another chapter. It is my regret to say that this is going to be the last chapter of this story. I really enjoyed writing this story

There are some scenes that occur in this story that occurred in the anime as well. So, I will only mention them to let you know that they occurred. The episodes that the scenes came from are episodes 19 and 20 of the anime.

Thank to everyone that has been reading my story and to everyone that has left me reviews.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 11

Fighting Girls

Thursday, after school.

Takeda is in the boxing club room punching away at the workout bag when he hears Niijima in the hallway.

He steps away and stands in the doorway of the room.

When Niijima sees him, he slithers over to the sweaty boxer and hands him a copy of the school paper that he created.

"You know, Takeda, you are a lucky man."

As Niijima is saying that to him, he reads the headline of the paper.

'Kenichi challenges the 8th deadly fist.'

His eyes go wide while reading the headline.

"He challenged her to keep you out of trouble." Niijima tells him.

"Niiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiimaaaaaa!" Comes Kenichi's voice from down the hallway.

"Uh-oh. Better go." He says to Takeda and then barrels down the hallway to get away from Kenichi.

Kenichi wizzes by after him.

Miu stops next to the doorway as she watches the two of them run.

"Is this true, Miu?" He asks the blond girl in hopes that it isn't true.

She nods.

"I was there when he did it."

He walks back into the club room in bewilderment as he reads the headline over, and over again.

He begins having flashbacks of how his arm originally got injured from trying to help out one of his friends.

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Later, during his appointment at Akisame's clinic, Takeda had questioned Akisame about some life question. So, he decided to bring Takeda to the dojo to watch Kenichi train. The stand just outside of the main training room. They managed to watch Kenichi take hit after hit from Sakaki, Apachai, and then Shigure without him noticing.

"Why does he do it? Why does he take on such training?" Asks Takeda.

"To keep people, like you, safe."

"That doesn't make any sense." Takeda replies in a flustered tone.

Akisame crosses his arms, and tucks them inside of his white keikogi.

"You know, he's an interesting guy. He comes off as cowardly, but then he'll turn around and surprise you by doing something amazingly brave. He seems as timid as a mouse, but then he'll suddenly turn around and take a stand. At first, I didn't know what to make of him. But now I think I've finally figured out what makes him tick."

Still slightly confused by everything, Takeda interjects.

"And, just what would that be?"

"Simply put, Kenichi Shirahama will do anything, dare anything, even risk his life to protect the lives of the people he cares about. It doesn't matter if you are male or female."

Takeda turns away from him and begins to start walking away.

"Leaving?" Questions Akisame.

Without turning back, Takeda raises a hand in the air and waves.

"Thanks, I really needed to hear that, but I have to get going now." He replies nonchalantly.

Under his calm outside, Takeda's mind is going a mile a second in thought.

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That night.

He is lying awake in his bed. Shigure is also with him. She is lying by his side with her head on his chest. Her hair gently lays over his shoulder. Her hand is also laying across his stomach. He is only wearing some shorts. She was still in her kimono.

He lets out a hefty sigh.

"Worried?" She asks softly.

"Yeah. Luckily, I know that the whole school won't be there. I got word where I am supposed to fight Kisara from one of the members of Ragnarok. I didn't tell anyone else where is was going to be at."

"Just remember your training."

"That's it?"

She gives a very light nod into his chest.

Then she lifts her head up and looks at him stoically.

"What?" He asks.

"Should we do more training?"

He pauses for a moment as he wonders if she is being serious or joking, but then he sees a slight curl at the end of her mouth.

She leans over and gives him a soft kiss.

The kiss seams to melt away at some of the fatigue of his tired boy.

"Don't stress, only do."

He nods.

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After school, the following day.

Kenichi was putting up his straw hat as he gets ready to leave the gardening club.

Izumi could feel the tension coming from him as he quietly leaves.

'I know he told me not to worry, but I can't help but worry.' The bespectacled girl thinks to herself.

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He walks through some streets and through some alleys as he travels to his destination. Little does he know he is also being trailed by Miu, but he is also being separately trailed by Shigure.

He walks into the area where he was supposed to be at. It was a little grungy. There was a wall along one side of the area and walls of the backs of some buildings on another side, leaving very few ways of escape.

Hermit, the fifth deadly fist of Ragnarok, is watching from atop a pole in the distance.

Kisara was standing on top of the edge of a wall, staring down at Kenichi. She is wearing her signature red shirt that says valkiria and her pants that are missing one leg.

"Kenichi Shirahama." She coldly calls out to him.

"Kisara." He says back with determined eyes.

"I am surprised you even showed up. I couldn't believe you actually issued this challenge. I thought that you didn't fight girls?"

"I have changed my mind since then. I still prefer not to, but there wasn't much choice in this matter."

'It was also kind of forced on me as well.' He mentally adds.

"I am glad to see that you are going to fight me seriously then." She says honestly to him.

Just as she says that to Kenichi, Takeda comes out from around a corner.

Kisara is the first to notice him considering that Kenichi's back was toward him.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Takeda." She says loudly enough for him to hear and with a grin.

"Hey gorgeous. Long time no see." He says in response to her with a wink.

"The name is Kisara, you gutless traitor." She replies snarkly.

Kenichi turns around in surprise and stares at his friend.

"Takeda! What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't let you handle all the fun by yourself. This is my fight after all."

"Awe. How touching." She says with a slightly bored tone and a lot of sarcasm."

"How did you even find out that the fight was here?" Asks Kenichi.

"Not that I care, but that is a good question." Adds Kisara.

All of a sudden, they hear a lot of footsteps coming.

Koga the kicker, part of the takedown trio with Takeda and Ukita, jumps out and appears before them.

"That would be my doing." He says to the three of them with his screechy and high pitch voice.

Kisara gives him a very annoyed look.

Nearly 20 Ragnarok goons come out from either side of them. Some of them have bats.

"I couldn't stand the idea of not getting my revenge on Takeda for leaving and I wanted to make sure Kenichi gets a real good beat down too. So, I added onto your fight."

Kisara grits her teeth and scowls at the 5'4'' kid.

"So, while you're fighting Kenichi, we'll take care of Takeda." Koga adds.

Ukita appears out from the shadows as well. He is easy to spot, as he towers over everyone. He is wearing his signature white button up shirt and shades.

"Let me be the first to get a piece of him." Ukita says as he gets next to Koga.

"Um, okay." Koga says in a slightly confused but complying tone.

"So that's how it's going to be." Says Takeda while he raises his fists while getting into a boxing stance.

Ukita, the thrower, starts cracking his knuckles.

"You've been a wierdo for as long as I've known you. You comfort your opponents after a fight. You'd also chew me out if I fought unfairly. Sure, they called us the takedown trio. But you were a sportsman and we were a couple of thugs. Man, did I hate you."

"That's a shame, because I never hated you." Takeda replies back to Ukita.

For a moment, Ukita looks pissed, but then he gets a huge smile on his face. He picks up Koga by the collar and the back of his shirt, lifts him above his head, and starts laughing.

Koga starts flailing about with his arms and legs.

"Ukita, what are you doing?" Screeches out Koga.

With a big grin, Ukita flails Koga into a couple of the Ragnarok goons and then throws him in Kisara's direction. She easily dodges Koga's body as he flies past her.

"What's wrong with you?" She says angrily to Ukita.

He points at her.

"As of this moment, I, Ukita the thrower, resign from Ragnarok."

Koga sluggishly climbs back over the wall that he was thrown over.

"I am going to pay you back for that. How dare you throw me around like that."

Ukita as Takeda get back to back as the goons begin surrounding them.

"Takeda!" Kenichi shouts.

He was about to step in their direction, but Kisara jumps in front of him.

"Your opponent is me, Kenichi Shirahama." She says sternly to him.

"But."

"I will deal with that situation after we finish our little fight."

Mui jumps off the top of a short building. Kisara and Kenichi see her jump over them and near where Ukita and Takeda are.

"Don't worry, Kenichi. I will take care of this. You just focus on your fight with Kisara."

Kenichi looks back to Kisara and gets into a karate fighting stance.

"Are you sure that you still want to do this?"

With a look of conviction on his face, he gives her his reply.

"Yes."

She gives him a smirk.

"Good."

As the fight begins between everyone else, their fight begins for them.

Shigure still watches from out of sight with hope and worry for her lover.

'I know that I wore down his rule in training, but can he still keep that in this fight against this girl.' The weapons master thinks to herself.

At first, neither of them move.

Kenichi could feel himself hesitate. Part of him still doesn't want to fight a girl.

With a tsk, Kisara decides to lash out first at her opponent.

Her leg swings around at his left side.

He shifts his arm to block the hit just time as it slams into him. The hard hit makes his arm ache just from the first blow.

'Damn. She's fast and she hits hard too.'

He waits, again, for her move.

She lifts up her other leg and sends a flurry of kicks at his face. His arms take all four blows that she sent at him as he crosses his arms to block her.

She plants her foot back down.

Now, both of his arms feel the ache from all of the kicks.

"Is that all that you know how to do?" She asks.

He makes a half attempt to raise a fist and throw a punch in her direction. She raises her leg and stops his fist with her foot. His fist slams into the bottom of her boot.

"You're really starting to piss me off." She says to him angrily

She kicks his fist away.

"When are you going to attack me?!" She shouts at him.

She swings her leg around again. In the middle of trying to dodge her blow, she shifts position half way through and raises her leg in the air. She brings her boot down right onto his head.

He starts to get dizzy and his vision blurs.

She gives him a smirk of victory.

"How does it feel to receive a blow from the 8th fist?"

He loses his balance and begins falling toward the ground.

'Kenichi!' He hears in his head as he imagines Shigure saying that to him.

'What are you fighting for?' An imaginary Akisame says to him.

All of his training flashes through his mind in a brief instant.

'I am fighting to protect.' He answers back as a flash of Takeda also goes through his head.

'When are you going to attack.' He hears as he also flashes back to Kisara's words.

Just before falling to the ground, he stomps a foot down to brace himself.

The 8th fist looks in shock when she sees that he didn't go down from her powerful blow.

He shakes his head and comes back to reality.

"Well now. Congratulations. You have survived longer than everyone else that's fought against me."

He looks up at her and gets back into a fighting stance.

She could tell that something seems different about him.

Shigure gets a happy smile on her face from where she is watching him when she notices his aura change.

'Now, he is into this battle.'

He throws another punch at her, but this time it has intent and force behind it.

She backflips to evade.

'At least he's taking me seriously now.

With another kick at him, he uses the trick that Sakaki taught him and blocks her foot downward, but then he realizes that he can't connect with his wrist because of the length of her leg. She jumps into the air and twirls around for another kick to his face. He shifts his head back to evade most of the blow, but he gets a cut across his cheek.

He takes a step back to recover.

"Hmph." She mutters out.

'I have to get past the reach of her legs to get a good hit. I have to figure out something though.'

After taking a couple more blows from her powerful kicks, he sees her coming in for another overhead attack. As her foot comes down, he shifts himself sideways. He raises is right hand up against the thigh of her leg. Then, he grabs the ankle of that leg with his other hand and attempts to throw her with a jujitsu technique. This works to no avail as she flips mid-air and lands on her feet.

She comes at him again with another frontal attack. He uses a technique that he learned from Kensei this time. As her foot comes forward, he steps toward her and throws his arms to the left. The action with his arms also deflects her kick away. While he is leaning forward, his head is put in position right by her stomach.

He then remembers the second part of that move and instinctively does it as he twirls his head around. This action causes the top of his head to brush against her chest area.

She blushes and gets a pissed off look on her face.

"What the hell are you doing, you damn pervert?" She shouts at him.

It dawns on him what he was doing, and he loses his footing. They both fall to the ground.

"I'm sorry. please forgive me. It was my master's training." He says pleadingly to her.

While on the ground he tries to swing an elbow at her, but she twirls her legs around and doges it in the process. Then she uses the momentum and flips back up onto her feet.

"What kind of a master teaches you that?"

'A very perverted one.' He thinks as he sweat drops.

She angrily jumps up into the air and comes down with both of her feet aimed at him for a very powerful blow.

He kneels up and barely step out of the way of the attack. She ends up within inches of him.

'Now is my chance. She's close enough for this to work.'

Before she can fully recover from the landing, he makes a downward chop at her with his right hand. With such close proximity, she is forced to raise her right arm to block the hit. When she does this, he takes his left fist and slams it into her left side. While she winces from the hit, he takes the hand that had raise to block the chop and twists it. For the next part of the combo, he knees her in the stomach and makes a chop at her back at the same time as he pulls her in by the twisted hand.

He quickly moves on to the next step before she can recover and steps between her legs. She gets flipped over as he pivots and throws her over his shoulder. This comes quite easy to him after dealing with all of Akisame's statues. They are much heavier than her light frame. He quickly steps over her and kneels down, trapping her hand and one of her legs.

The combo gets finished as he slams his hand right next to her face.

Her eyes, which were shut from receiving all of his blows, shoot open after hearing the loud smack against the pavement. She sees his hand right next to her face.

"It's over!" He shouts at her.

She gets a pissed off look on her face as he releases her and stands up.

He offers his hand to her to help her up.

"Why didn't you deal that last blow? Is it because I am a girl? And who says this is over?"

She feels the ache from each blow that he had made as she stands up on her own.

"Would you have preferred that I slammed my fist into the back of your head." He says to her slightly sarcastically.

Miu steps close to them.

"It's not because you are a girl, that is just how he is."

Kenichi and Kisara look around and finally observe their surroundings. They see that all of the Ragnarok members were on the ground. Miu seemed fine. Ukita and Takeda were battered, but they were also both managing to stand.

Takeda decides to chime in.

"She's right. That is just how he is. He is like that with everyone. He was even like that with me when we fought. He did everything he had to do to win, but nothing more."

"If there is another way out, he will find it." Miu adds.

A group of people is heard walking in their direction. One of them is wielding a flag that says Shinpaku alliance.

Kisara's lieutenant, Shiratori, walks up to her.

"Kisara, let us retreat."

Kisara grits her teeth and growls over the situation.

"This isn't over, Kenichi. And with you too, dairy cow." She says to Kenichi and Miu.

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After a checkup at Akisame's clinic, Kenichi had eventually made it back to Ryuzanpaku.

He is lying in bed with his lover after she had looked over his injuries as well.

She curls up next to him.

"You did well."

"Thanks, Shigure."

"No regrets?" She asks.

He shakes his head.

"None."

Then he looks over at her and looks at her seriously.

"About anything." He adds.

She smiles at her disciple and lover. They lean into each other and share a very passionate kiss as their lips make contact with each other and their tongues intertwine.

When they finish, they stay in each other's arms and go to sleep.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading the final chapter of this story.

Have no fear if you want to read more Kenichi. I have started to write a crossover story involving Kenichi that I may turn into a long story if I get a good amount of feedback on it to keep it going. It is a crossover between Kenichi and High School DXD. It is called 'History's Strongest Devil Disciple Kenichi'. I have posted the first chapter of it already for your viewing pleasure.

My 'Monster Musume: Drago's Quest' story is up to chapter 4 - Complete

My 'Familiar Of Zero: Saving Grace' story is up to Chapter 69

My 'History's Strongest Devil Disciple Kenichi' story is at chapter 1


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